Hey, Juliet!
by Sarazz Prime
Summary: The Hitachiin twins are bored, yet again! So when another case of mistaken gender identification, a broken piece of expensive art, and the sudden recruitment of another unwilling Ouran High Host Club member happens, the twins find themselves a new toy....
1. Uchiwa Kyo, Meet Fujioka Haruhi!

_**HEY, JULIET!**_

**Summary:** The Hitachiin twins are bored, yet again! So when another case of mistaken gender identity, expensive broken pieces of art, and the sudden recruitment of another (unwilling) Ouran High Host Club member happens; the twins find themselves a new toy to play with. However, this new toy is no mere pushover, and can retaliate with just as good pranks as their own, giving Hikaru and Kaoru a good run for their money that they've longed deserved.

**Disclaimer:** I do not claim any creative rights to OURAN HIGH HOST CLUB anime/manga. All recognizable characters are the sole property of Bisco Hatori. This story is a work of pure fiction, my 'play time' with the characters of the Host Club, because seriously, who wouldn't want to do that? As this is a work of fiction, any personality quirks or suggested fears of already established characters are of the creative thoughts and vast imagination of your's truly.

**Author Notes:** All unrecognizable characters and storyline are the sole property of thine self (i.e. The author), and their theft or any other sort of "borrowing" will end in wickedly induced pain via black juju and or voodoo, which ever I find easier to use. If anyone reading finds inspiration from my story and characters, then by all means please feel free to run with your own imagination. However, I do highly recommend that avoiding any sort of plagiarism should be avoided, because honestly, we all know that stealing is wrong.

**Rating:** T

**Warning(s):** This story will and or may contain mild language, physical fight scenes, some suggested "mature" themes, and some crude humor. Further warnings may or may not be posted on a chapter to chapter basis.

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_**Chapter One**_

_**Uchiwa Kyo, Meet Fujioka Haruhi!**_

The afternoon sun of the midsummer season glistened down upon the picturesque landscape of the massive sprawling grounds of the Ouran Academy. A light midsummer's breeze was sweeping in and rustling through the still blooming cherry trees that dotted the grounds in pink puffs, their pale pink blossoms being gently taken from their branches and gliding through the warm air like a snow. With no clouds in the powder blue sky, no one could have asked for a better day in which to enjoy the outdoors, and many of the students were doing so, except for one Sophomore.

Tucked up out of view, hidden away on the high roof top of the South Building, a second year (Sophomore) of Ouran Academy was dozing in a lazy manner out in the middle of the roof. Arms tucked back behind the head to cushion against the hard surface if the cement pavement, the second year dressed in the soft blue colored suit jacket and black slacks of the boy's uniform looked to be fully enjoying such a pleasant day in a way completely opposite to how others would spend it. The only thing that seemed capable of waking this sleeping student happened to be a cherry blossom that managed to catch a rather decent updraft of warm air and landed right in the space between the eyes and above the bridge of the nose.

The feathery light touch was enough of a disturbance, that the Sophomore blinked lazily to reveal a set of purple jewel-toned colored eyes that were offset nicely by the cinnamon color of the hair that hung from the head in short choppy layers at the back of the head and most of the way forward while long bangs and pieces of hair framed the slender oval shape of the face. After blinking a few more times and looking cross-eyed to the spot where the cherry blossom sat carelessly, the Sophomore sighed while reaching up and plucking the cherry blossom off. Sitting up, the Sophomore had to run a hand through the long bangs to push the fallen askew pieces of hair out the face, and then stared at the blossom held gingerly between the the thumb and index finger. With a small irritated grunt, the Sophomore sighed again and released the blossom as an air current drifted in.

The small flower waltzed off to another destination, leaving the teen to stare after it with a slight smile pulling at the corner of a rather pleasant looking mouth. "Bothersome." The teen stated while finally standing up and walking over to the edge of the roof that boasted a rather ornately sculpted ledge that acted as a safety rail at the same time. Glancing over the edge at the grounds far below, the teen smirked slightly at the sight that was down there.

Apparently, this side of the South Building was where the cherry tree garden was located and maintained. Students were gathered within the neatly and precisely trimmed hedging that was a natural fence for the gardens. Seated at whitewashed rod iron tables in the same type of chair, they seemed to be enjoying an afternoon tea of sorts, their conversations and brief laughter flitting upwards toward the top of the roof, reaching the ears of the teen (that happened to be pierced on both lobes with small silver hoops). Raising a slender brow at the merriment taking place down below, the teen merely smirked while turning about on their heel.

"To each their own I suppose." The Sophomore muttered while walking back towards the roof access and headed down the flight of stairs to get back inside the building itself. Touching down on the top floor where the stairs ended and started at the same time, the Sophomore took notice of a few voices trailing into their direction. Looking towards the voices, the teens' brows rose in curiosity for a moment and then dropped when the faces belonging to those voices stepped into view.

Two female students appeared, chattering with one another in an excited manner, only to stop short in both speech and mobility as they stared with wide eyes at the Sophomore standing ahead of them with a rather blank unreadable look on his face. The blonde was immediately short of breath and clutched at her chest in a dreamy manner. "He's so pretty." she whispered over to her brunette friend, who nodded in agreement.

"I've never seen him around before though." The brunette returned while staring at the Sophomore in the same starry-eyed manner as her friend. "He looks like he's a second year."

The spoken of Sophomore blinked in a stupefied manner at the two girls who seemed star struck with his presence and then looked away from them slowly and started off down the next flight of stairs in a slow speed as if not to attract anymore attention his way from them in the hopes of escaping their gaze. After inching his way a good descent down the stairs, the teen exhaled a held breath of relief and pulled at the collar of the white dress shirt underneath the blazer. "Damn this thing is suffocating." the teen muttered while continuing down the stairs while unbuttoning the first two buttons on the shirt.

Reaching the next floor, the teen headed off to the right to get to the next set of stairs, an obvious one track mind set playing out. _I hate this place. It's too quiet, too stuffy, too fragile looking, too posh, too annal, too..._"GAH! Why is it so boring here?!" The teen shouted while tussling his own hair with both hands in a frazzled manner.

"You know, if you keep talking to yourself like that, people are going to start wandering." A voice stated, breaking into the small realm surrounding the teen, who was suddenly brought to the realization that they were now outside the South Building entrance.

The Sophomore looked around in a darting manner while trying to remember when they had gotten outside. Finding no such answer, the teen exhale heavily and hung his head, shoulder slumping greatly. "Why does this always happen to me?" he muttered quietly in a curse towards himself.

"Uh...?" the same voice sounded confused now.

Looking up and to the right in a rather odd manner, the teen felt their attitude at that moment suddenly perk up at the person standing there. "And you would be the little voice inside my head that speaks to me?" The teen asked in a drawl manner that didn't sound one bit enthusiastic in the least as he studied this other student standing there.

Brunette, brown-eyed, slender, short for a boy, dressed in the same boy's uniform as themselves, and all around rather feminine looking, the teen couldn't help but wonder about something that was rather obvious in their eyes. The student laughed lightly in a nervous manner while scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you like that Senpai."

"Senpai? What makes you think I'm older than you so suddenly?" The teen asked while standing up straight, showing off the 5'8" height of his slender frame.

"Uh, well, you look a lot older than me, so I just assumed while trying to be polite." The boy replied, the nervous laughing continuing while a panicked look was now crossing his face. "I'm sorry if I've offended you with that."

The bland expression on the Sophomore's face softened into a friendly grin. "Nah, forget it. Besides, I can understand why you would jump to that conclusion first rather than the latter of thinking me younger than yourself." the teen stated while then holding out a hand to the other student. "The name's Uchiwa Kyo."

The boy smiled back in the same manner and took the offered hand to shake it. "Fujioka Haruhi, and it's nice to meet you Uchiwa-senpai.

The second year (Sophomore) named Kyo laughed. "Still with the _'Senpai'_ thing, eh?" Kyo teased as their hand shake ended. Setting his hands on his hips, Kyo gave Haruhi a rather enlightened look suddenly. "How about we drop the formalities, eh? I have to deal with enough of that crap during school hours as it is."

"Uh...okay." Haruhi replied, his words coming out rather slowly drawn as he wasn't too sure about this guy for some reason or other. "Anyways, I don't think I've seen you around here, Kyo-san."

"Yeah, well, I just transferred here by request of my oh-so-loving-parents." Kyo replied, the last piece of the sentence coming out in a completely sarcastic manner. A rather unpleasant look crossed his face at the same time as if he had just eaten something bitter.

Haruhi chuckled lightly and caused Kyo's foul look to immediately disappear as he joined in with his own small chuckle that was held behind his lips. "So tell me, Kyo-san, what year are you? For future reference of course." Haruhi asked, head tilting sideways a bit.

Kyo held up two fingers in response. "Second year. Your good old Sophomore." He replied while grinning as if he had just won something. "And yourself?"

"Freshman." Haruhi stated while looking rather proud of that statement as well, only a winning grin wasn't on his face, but instead there was a friendly smile. "Entered Ouran Academy at the start of the school year, obviously." He laughed while scratching the back of his head.

"I see, well, nice to meet you as well Haruhi-san." Kyo returned as he eyed the other student for a moment in a studious manner before popping another question. "How come you wear the boy's uniform?"

Haruhi's face went completely pale while drawing a blank expression at the same time. An eerie silence passed between the two students, the distant sound of a wolf howling causing Kyo to look up at the sky in an angle while those purple eyes wandered about to try and locate this source of foreign sound and why it had occurred. Haruhi felt his left eyebrow and the corner of his mouth twitch in response to the question finally as panic mode started to set in. "W-what are you talking about Kyo-san?" he laughed nervously and in a manner that suggested he was trying to avoid the subject completely.

Kyo crossed his arms over his chest while that cinnamon colored head titled sideways in an owlish manner. "Well for starters, it's painfully obvious that you're a gir-" From out of nowhere, Kyo was tackled to the ground by the smaller boy who promptly slapped a hand over his mouth, causing the older student to contract an irritated look on his face in response to such an act. Shouting something that was possibly curse words underneath Haruhi's hand, Kyo was now glaring with a twitching brow at the boy, waiting for an answer.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Haruhi repeated hurriedly while bowing his head, voice almost in a whisper now. "But, please, don't say things so loudly with the other students around!" He removed his hand at the gesture from the older student and cringed in waiting for his reply.

"And you don't think tackling me to the ground like that won't attract attention?!" Kyo snapped loudly, only to realize along with Haruhi just how many people were now looking at them. The two exchanged mere flickers of a glance with one another before they were up on their feet in a flash as if nothing happened. Kyo held a panicked look on his face with one hand behind his head and the other resting on Haruhi's shoulder. "That was the perfect execution of a tackle Fujioka-kun!"

"Thank you Senpai!" Haruhi returned in the same panicked/nervous manner as Kyo. "So, should we be on our way then to practice elsewhere?" he laughed nervously, while a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face.

"Yes, exactly! Let's be on our way!" Kyo returned quickly while grabbing Haruhi by the ran and literally taking a page out of the Flash's book and was gone within the blink of an eye, dragging Haruhi along with him.

This left those who had been watching the whole episode in a sat of bleak and utter stunned silence. "There's no way anyone could run that fast." One student commented in the absence of the two boys who had disappeared so suddenly while a dust trail lingered in their wake.


	2. Sophomore In Debt!

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Sophomore In Debt!**_

After running for seemed like forever before a good enough place to hide provided itself, Kyo had finally come to a stop somewhere behind another building near the South Building, and here both he and Haruhi stood in bent over positions trying to regain their lost breath and using the wall as support. Both were clutching at their chests, eyes wide, and sweat having formed on their brows and temples. "I think...that was the first time...in a long time...I've ever..had to run like that!" Kyo stuttered while desperately trying to catch his breath.

"There is no way...in hell...that someone should be able to run...like that!" Haruhi stated in a stuttered manner.

Kyo's purple-eyed gaze shot over to the Freshman with an irritated glare. "This was your fault to begin with!" He hissed, metaphorical cat ears and tail appearing to further the gesture of the Sophomore's irritation with the younger class man.

Haruhi's face faulted into a down casted look of depressed embarrassment. "I'm sorry." He muttered quietly. "It's just that, I didn't expect you to pick that out so quickly and start talking. I mean, not that I care or anything personally, it's just a bit complicated right now."

The Sophomore's steam lost its pressure and rising temperature as quickly as it had built, and a rather passive look crossed his face as he stared at Haruhi for a moment and then looked back over his shoulder at the direction they had come from. "I guess I was the one at fault then, wasn't I?" Kyo questioned aloud while then looking up at the cloudless sky with puzzled look. This caused Haruhi to glance up quickly and stare at him with a wide gaze that Kyo met with a friendly smile appearing on his face. "Neh?" he asked, head tilting slightly.

Haruhi grinned and chuckled quietly for a brief second. "Kyo-san's a good person." Haruhi stated while still maintaining that grin. "But still, I do apologize for over reacting like that and tackling you." A sheepish laugh followed the end of the sentence as Haruhi scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, well, you are a lot stronger than you look kiddo." Kyo stated with an even stare while he shoved his hands into the pockets of his uniform slacks. "However, you still haven't answered my question, Haruhi-kun." he pointed out.

"Oh, right. Well, to be honest, it's a long story." Haruhi replied while sighing heavily at the same time. "Is your explanation simple?"

Kyo went quiet and blinked stupidly a few times out of total shock to the imposed question that had been turned around on him. "When did you figure it out?" he asked while laughing in a stunned manner.

"Probably about the same time as you." Haruhi stated while tapping the tip of his chin.

"Yes, well, the truth is about this uniform," Kyo paused a moment as he tried to pick out the right structure for the answer. "I sort of slipped and fell into the pond outside the South Building on my way in." He admitted with a childish innocence radiating in display to the _simple_ explanation he offered. "A Senior saw me fall and offered me his extra uniform on the spot since it's my first day and I only had the one I was wearing."

Haruhi nodded in complete understanding to this. "I know what you mean." Looking up at the second year, eyes laughing while a still look remained upon the face. "Skirts are a bothersome article of clothing."

A burst of laughter erupted from the before hand blinking child-like Kyo, who after a moment settled down, gave Haruhi a wry smile. "Well, now that we've established the fact that we were both correct in deducing that the other is indeed a girl," Kyo grinned broadly. "How's about we go get something to eat? I'm starved after that run."

The rumbling sound of two stomachs growled between the two girls, and both held suppressed but hungry looks on their faces. Both exhaled heavily in response their whining stomachs, however, Haruhi happened to look down at her watch as something buzzed annoyingly at the back of her mind, and nearly choked on a sudden intake of air. _Dammit! I completely forgot about them! I'm never going to hear the end it from those two devils if I don't hurry up and get there! _"Uh, um, Kyo-san, I'll have to take you up on the offer another time. I just realized that I'm late for a previous engagement." She admitted hurriedly while waving at Kyo at the same time. "I'll see ya around!" Haruhi called out while turning on her heel and taking off.

"Hey, wait a minute! Haruhi-kun!" Kyo called after the younger girl, but found it to be useless as she had already zipped far far ahead all in a matter of a few seconds. _And people say I'm inhuman._ She thought quietly to herself while her right brow twitched in a jerking convulsion. _Although..._Her face pulled itself into a passive and studious look suddenly as she continued to further think to herself, _I wonder where she had to run off to so suddenly like that? Come to think of it...she never did tell me why she's dressed in the boy's uniform._ Sighing, Kyo ran a hand through short and long hair while shrugging to herself and started walking off in the direction that Haruhi had disappeared into. Curiosity was a life long habit of hers'.

Twenty minutes of walking, and following the scurried trail that Haruhi had left behind apparently, and Kyo found herself standing outside the large oval arched white double doors to the gardens on the left side of the South Building she had looked into from high above on the roof. Kyo stared up at the large doors with blank look on her face and blinked a few times just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. _Nope._ Kyo's blank face became an even stare that was almost a grimace. Her brow raised for a moment as she stared down at the golden colored elegant door handles that stuck out at her in smooth curves. _This is just one of the reasons why I don't like this place. _Kyo muttered in thought as she reached out and grasped a hold of the door handle.

Turning it, Kyo heard the distinctive click of the lock releasing and pushed on the door just enough for it to slip a crack open. Through the crack a red rose petal slipped through and landed on the tip of her nose, causing the Sophomore to look down at the tiny piece of flower with a perplexed look on her face. "A rose petal?" The door wobbled once under her hand, the small tremor causing the Sophomore to loose her balance and push the door further open.

"Welcome!"

Stumbling in, Kyo caught herself with the door handle as a support and then looked up from a bent over position and held shocked look on her face with her mouth slightly a gap at the sight before her. Seven boys stood before her just a ways, all dressed in rather flashy looking tuxedos and bowing just at the waist with an arm crossed over their chest to accompany the gentlemanly bow they were giving. Kyo continued to stare at them in complete silence, a silence that now was passing between her and the boy group at that moment in an awkward manner. However, it was the twins standing on outside of the group on Kyo's left that lost interest first and pointed something rather obvious out, and out loud at that.

"Ah man, it's just some dude." One of the ginger haired twins stated while pointing at the still stumbled entry.

"Geez." The other muttered under his breath while crossing his arms over his chest and looking off elsewhere.

_Some...dude...?_ Kyo's eyes had grimaced into an irritated glare at the two twins, and the rest of the group at that matter as they too seemed to be thinking along the same lines as them. _What the hell is this place? And what's with the rose petals?! _Kyo's purple-eyed gaze followed a trailing dance of red rose petals that were now blowing by in the space that separated her from them. Confused slightly by this, Kyo looked back to the group of boys standing before her and cocked her head to the side suddenly as her eye landed upon a very familiar face she had been introduced to about an hour ago. "Oh, Haruhi-kun." Kyo pointed at the spoken of first year student.

"Eh-he, hello Uchiwa-senpai." Haruhi greeted with a nervous laughter coming out at the same time. "It's nice to see you again."

Kyo set her hands on her hips and gave the underclassman a rather unamused look. "Again with the _"Senpai"_ thing." She muttered under her breath while also shaking her cinnamon colored head. However, something intrigued her at that moment and the gaze of the Sophomore trailed over to the tall blonde boy of the group who looked as frustrated as anything and looking between her and Haruhi wordlessly. Studying him for a moment, Kyo looked to Haruhi and pointed at the blonde at the same time with a bland look on her face. "I take it this is the long story you were telling me about earlier?"

Haruhi nodded while a smile that looked like a cross between nervous and on the verge of panic appeared on her face. "Indeed it would be."

Having now had enough of not knowing what was going on in his midst, the tall blonde finally exploded in his frustration, face hinting at a furious blush that threatened to give him away for a jealous man. "Haruhi-kun, who is this guy?! And how do you know him?!" he blurted out in a mass chaos of horribly strung words, an even further giveaway of his flustered state, and so added by the mad flailing about of his arms as he pointed at the unknown _guy _in the garden.

"Uchiwa Kyo. Second year, or Sophomore as some would put it. Age – 16. Height is 5'8". Born June twenty-fifth. A _Cancer_. Favorite food is sushi, shiro miso, and angel food cake with strawberries and cream. Favorite color is amethyst." The tall speckled boy read off a book tablet he was now currently holding in his hands while at the same time adjusting his glasses.

While he read off the information he apparently had on her, Kyo's face had gone completely blank aside from the fact that her brow twitched in an irritated fashion from having her personal information read aloud like that in some sort of statistic. "You have got to be kidding me." Kyo muttered while looking off to the side.

"Uh, Kyoya-senpai...how did you get that much information on Kyo-san so quickly?" Haruhi asked nervously while looking up at the asked of boy, and at the same time eyeing the rather irritated looking second year student now burning a hole in the fence hedge with her stare. _Why do I have this bad feeling that something very horrible is about to happen today all of a sudden? _Haruhi gulped at her own thoughts.

Kyoya, the speckled tall boy, glanced down at Haruhi with slightly raised brows. "Transfer students interest me a bit." he stated nonchalantly while shrugging. "That and when it's the only child of a rather wealthy and well known family in Japan, it interests me even more. A chance to collect new data. Although, something does puzzle me at the moment about Uchiwa-san." Kyoya murmured and tapped the tip of his chin for a moment, which caused Haruhi to give him a rather confused look.

"Hey, hey, Paper fan-senpai! Are you into other guys or something?" the twins asked in unison while now popping up on either side of the older student they were now finding rather interesting in such a clearly frazzled state. "Neh, Paper fan-senpai?"

"Stop calling me that!" Kyo snapped in a rather irritated manner. "My name is not "Paper fan-senpai"! It's Uchiwa Kyo!" The cat ears (metaphorically) were now overly apparent as she hissed at them.

The twins snickered while disappearing from their places at either side of Kyo and reappeared in front of her with smirks plastering their faces. "Paper fan-senpai isn't being nice Hikaru." The twin with his hair parted from the left stated while crossing his arms over his chest.

"No, she's not, Kaoru." The twin with his parted from the right replied and copied his brother's of crossing his arms over his chest.

Kyo growled in her throat at them, the proverbial hackles on the back of her neck rising while the same could be said about the "tail" now accompanying her "ears". With teeth clenched and eyes set to a blazing glare, Kyo was ready to bite the twin brothers for their continuous misuse of her family's name. "I'm going to strangle the two of you." She hissed through her clenched teeth.

While Kyo set her glare on the twins, Haruhi held a rather thoughtful look on her face at that moment and glanced between Kaoru and Hikaru for a moment before she felt a tug on her arm. Looking down to her side where she was being tugged, Haruhi raised a brow in response to the beaming smile on the short blonde boy's face that stared up at her with brown eyes. "Hunny-senpai?"

"Neh, neh, Haru-chan, is Kyon-chan a friend of yours?" Hunny asked with a rather innocent confusion taking hold of his expression.

"Well, actually, we both ran into each other outside the South Building for the first time ever." Haruhi replied while smiling down at him. Hunny smiled back and laughed while running over to where Kyo was standing on complete edge now as the twins continued to misuse her name. _There's that feeling again. _Haruhi swallowed hard as had a horrible feeling shadowed over her at that moment, but couldn't quite place it still.

"Paper fan-senpai, Paper fan-senpai!" The twins spoke in a sing-song voice as they teased the older student, swaying side to side as they did so in further mockery and to push further buttons.

A rather dark shadow grew over the upper half of Kyo's face finally and her right hand clenched into a fist that she pulled back and got ready to throw at them. "You irritating brats!" She shouted while throwing her punch forward towards the two boys, an entirely irritated look consuming her face at that moment, and somehow struck a deep chord in the twins who gaged at the ferocious sight before them. "Take - !"

"Kyon-chan!" Hunny's cheerful voice broke the immediate danger and distracted Kyo, who instead of following through with her punch looked over at the short blonde who was currently in the middle of jumping on her. "Kyon-chan!!" Small arms slipped around Kyo's neck, and Hunny was automatically cuddling up against the cinnamon haired Sophomore who was struck speechless.

Seeing as how they were safe from being hit with possibly one of the harshest blows they would ever experience in life, the twins slipped off elsewhere as they noticed Kyo's sudden imbalance and was now teetering backwards with Hunny still firmly wrapped about her neck and nuzzling up under her chin. Haruhi's bad feeling now swallowed her completely as she watched Kyo and Hunny start falling backwards, backwards towards an outdoor piece of sculpture art that looked..._EXPENSIVE!!! _Haruhi panicked started to run forward towards them, hand outstretched as if to try and grab a hold of Kyo's arm, hand, sleeve, anything really to keep her from falling all the way, and a horribly pale look on her face and dropped jaw.

_Dammit! _Kyo shouted her thoughts within her mind as she felt herself go completely backwards, with the laughing Hunny still hanging about her neck. In the last second, somehow, in some way, Kyo managed to steady herself out of both fear for not just her safety but also the boy around her neck. However, even though she had caught herself and avoided falling on top of the sculpture art that looked like a life sized female figure, Kyo's sudden sigh of relief was cut short as her hand managed to just brush the piece. "No...way!" She muttered in a terrified manner while looking back over her shoulder at the sculpture that was now hitting the ground and shattering into a million pieces.

Everyone stared at the shattered sculpture in silence, both Haruhi and Kyo had completely paled faces with dropped jaws, Kyoya with raised brows, the incredibly tall boy (Mori) with a blank expression from his new place beside Kyo, Hunny still hanging on to Kyo from around the neck smiling massively and blissfully unaware of the whole situation at the moment, the twins both had exaggerated grins on their faces, and the tall blonde having the same look on his face as Kyoya. A rather solid amount of dead silence passed for a lengthy amount of time.

Kyo suddenly slumped down into a sitting position on her knees and just stared at the shattered sculpture piece, Hunny still hanging off her neck and rubbing his cheek against hers. "No way, there's no way." Kyo muttered quietly under her breath. "I saved myself from falling on it, and in the process just barely touched the stupid thing...how? Why?!" Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.

"Ooooo, that was a rather expensive and irreplaceable one of a kind at that." Hikaru stated with a Cheshire grin on his face.

"And it was going to be auctioned off at a banquet for nearly eighty-eight thousand yen." Kaoru added in with the same grin that his brother had.

An even paler look of horror painted its way over not only Kyo's face, but also Haruhi's face as it reminded her of her own predicament on a higher level. _That's eight higher than that vase I broke earlier this year! At least, at least Kyo-senpai is the type of person who can pay it back...I think..._

"EIGHTY-EIGHT MILLION YEN?! MOM AND DAD ARE GOING TO KILL ME!!" Kyo cried while grasping at her hair with a deeply horrified look upon her face and tears threatening to spill over from her eyes.

Hunny looked up at the horribly freaked Sophomore with big dewy eyes that threatened to spill tears as well. "Kyon-chan is going to cry." He sniffed, and yet still clung to her in the same position.

Kyoya adjusted his glasses while looking through his personal files that were in hand. "I don't see how it would be a problem for you to pay us back for the broken sculpture, plus interest of course." he stated while apparently stopping on a particular file he had found. "Your family is one of the richest families in Japan, with investments in hot spring spas and resorts, while also owning a few of the biggest in the country." He pointed out while reading off the information he had, and earned a rather nasty glare from Kyo at the same time.

"You don't get it." Kyo snarled before falling into a sulking mood. "My parents are strict when it comes to money problems. They won't help me out with replacing that statue. And I don't have that kind of money to spend!" she stated while suddenly grabbing hold of Hunny and bursting into frustrated tears. "Why me God?! Why always me?!" she wailed, while Hunny burst into tears right along with her and blubbered out consoling words the best he could while the others stared in shocked silence for a moment.

Haruhi looked over at the tall blonde beside her, who was bitting into the corner of a handkerchief and had tears collecting at the outside corners of his eyes. "Um, Tamaki-senpai, can't you guys figure out a different form of payment that Kyo-san can do? Like the one you guys used on me?"

The tall blonde named Tamaki, glanced down at Haruhi, startled out of his teary-eyed stupor induced by the rather tear jerking scene playing out before him. "Uh, form of payment?" he repeated in question form, tapping his chin thoughtfully before then lighting up at what Haruhi had suggested. "Ah! I know!" he stated aloud and then before anyone could blink, he was before the wailing Kyo on bended knee with hands set upon the shoulders. "Don't fret Uchiwa-san! You don't have to worry about paying us back through financial means, especially with your rather appealing looks, it shouldn't be a problem." he stated with a grin.

Kyo's wailing was cut short (Hunny continued on though, still muttering incomprehensible assurances), and suddenly that purple gaze narrowed rather accusingly upon the tall blonde. "I'm not going to be your personal slave or anything, **_hentai_**." She stated bluntly with a rather icy chill to her tone that caused Tamaki to remove his hands from her shoulders and jerk back in a defensive manner.

"Why do I always get that?!" He cried, tears forming in his eyes as he was somehow deeply hurt by this accusation. "All I'm trying to do is help you out like Haruhi-kun suggested."

Sighing heavily, Haruhi approached Kyo and crouched down wrapping her arms around her knees and gave her an assuring smile. "Kyo-san, Tamaki-senpai isn't being sneaky or fiendishly devious with you, although he does tend to seem that way for some reason." She stated while setting a hand atop of Hunny's golden head which ceased his crying.

"That's right! I'm just trying to help a fellow out!" Tamaki stated while popping up from behind Haruhi and pointing at Kyo, and immediately received the same cat-like feral glare from the cinnamon haired Sophomore. Pulling back and cowering behind Haruhi, peeking over her shoulder. "Like Haruhi-kun said, that is."

Kyoya folded his arms over his chest as if deep in thought for a moment, and then after studying Kyo for a moment, couldn't help but laugh lightly at the ironic hilarity of a similar situation playing out before him that had happened not too long ago with Haruhi. Running a hand through his hair, Kyoya sighed before speaking up finally. "I think what Tamaki is suggesting is we should sign Uchiwa-san up as a _host_ like we did with Haruhi-kun." he pointed out, more to Kyo than anyone else. "Although, this is going to be rather difficult to do, but I think we'll be able to manage just as we did Haruhi-kun."

"Kyoya..." Haruhi looked up at the speckled second year who had a rather suspicious grin on his face at that moment. "You know...don't you?" she asked, rather slowly as if she were almost afraid of the answer.

This however, gave Tamaki the wrong impression and the blonde once again went into a panicked mode while creating various interpretations of the question that Haruhi had imposed. While Tamaki pouted in depression, the others perked up a bit at what was said and received questioning looks from both Haruhi and Kyo at the same time, to which they all nodded in response to. Kyo looked over at Haruhi with a sour look on her face. "They all know, eh?"

"Yep, they seem to have an eye for picking these things out, while on the other hand..." Haruhi trailed off while looking over at the still moping Tamaki who was now drawing doodles in the grass. "Tamaki-senpai isn't as quick for some reason or other."

Kyo eyed him with a raised brow and an impassive look on her face at the sulking blonde. "No kidding. Although..." she looked back over at the one named Kyoya with a puzzled look on her face. "What do you mean by making me a _host_?"

* * *

**Author's Announcement**

_SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT!_

The name/word _Uchiwa_ translates into "paper fan". In ancient Japan, uchiwa were used in court ceremonies to denote nobility, as souvenirs, and to protect soldiers from arrows. More importantly, such fans can be used to fan flames, making the flame hotter – and thus a pun on the fact that Kyo's temper is easily inflamed when the twins push her buttons and aggravate her to no end. And also, the reason as to why Hikaru and Kaoru call Kyo "_Paper fan-senpai_" in tease to the translation of her surname.

**Translation focus on the word of the day! **Hentai - Basically, it means 'pervert' or 'perverted'.


	3. Welcome to the Host Club

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Welcome to the Host Club**_

The doors to the unused _Third Music Room_ in the South Building of the Ouran Academy open, and you are greeted by seven handsome boys whose smiles melt the girls instantly. However, today, there is an eighth who stands _far_ off to the right side of the whole group, arms crossed, cat ears and tail fluffed out straight out to the ends (metaphorically of course), and an irritated scowl darkening a rather attractive face while purple eyes were narrowed like daggers at the wall off to the right. All eight boys were dressed in what looked like costumes playing off the theme of "pop idols", and the unused Third Music Room that they used was decorated in a night club theme with multi colored lights filtering through the air while music played in an upbeat tempo.

"Welcome!" They greet in unison (minus the scowling eighth boy of course). You have just entered the Ouran High Host Club.

Sitting at the center of the group in a high backed velvet cushioned chair, is their chairman – Suoh Tamaki 2-A , blonde and amethyst eyed, six foot tall, and currently dressed in a pair of black leather pants accompanied by a white long sleeves dress shirt with a lazily tied black scarf hanging outside the partially buttoned shirt and a dark red unbuttoned tailored jacket. In short, his costume made him look like your typical lead singer. At Tamaki's immediate left stands a boy a few inches shorter than him – Ohtori Kyoya 2-A , dark haired and grey-eyed with a pair of wire rimmed glasses perched upon the bridge of his nose, and currently dressed in a pair of dark brown leather pants while black turtleneck covers his top along with a long white trench coat with a fur collar and trim. In short, his costume made him look like your typical solo artist.

Standing beside Kyoya are the two twins standing at the same height of 5'10 – Hitachiin Hikaru and Hitachiin Kaoru 1-A , ginger haired and amber-eyed, they were both currently dressed in matching outfits of light denim colored jeans and sleeveless teal colored turtleneck tops that cut off above just above their naval covered by also sleeveless floor length glossy black jackets (hoods hanging down behind their heads) with black leather fingerless gloves adorned on top by a piece of shining metal. In short (again), their costumes made them look like the backup singers of a J-Rock band.

On Tamaki's immediate right stands a rather slender and femmine looking boy – Fujioka Haruhi 1-A , brunette and brown-eyed standing at 5'1" (but not the shortest of the group), and currently dressed in pale yellow colored long sleeved blouse with frilled cuffs and collar while a black velvet vest sits buttoned up over it accompanying a pair of black pants with a wide glittering silver belt slung about that small waist. **And P.S. To those of you who don't already know – Fujioka Haruhi is actually a girl who is debt to the Host Club and acts as a **_**host**_** to pay off her debt by accumulating 1,000 customer requests! None of the customers (or school body for that matter) do not know that Haruhi is not a boy! Okay, back to the story now! **Standing just in front of Haruhi is the club's shortest, but oldest, member of the Host Club – Haninozuka Mitsukuni, a.k.a Hunny 3-A , blonde haired and brown-eyed Hunny stands at 4'10", and is currently dressed in a soft pink dress shirt with a dark red jacket that hit only just at the middle of his chest in length accompanied by chocolate colored pants. Your typical J-Pop idol star.

Behind Hunny stands his incredibly tall cousin – Morinozuka Takashi, a.k.a Mori 3-A , dark haired and blue-eyed he is the tallest member standing at 6'4". Currently dressed in black leather pants and a white sleeveless shirt holding a silk screen printed image of half the British flag and newspaper colored printed words scrolling across the flag image (possibly lyrics from some well known song or other), and looked as though he was supposed to be either the base player or drummer for a J-Rock band. And finally, standing as far away from the group as possible – Uchiwa Kyo 2-A , cinnamon haired and purple-eyed, dressed in black pants having a braiding up the legs with a black shirt of some kind beneath a knee length black suede jacket with wide lapels in a crushed purple velvet, Kyo also sported four belts criss-crossed over the waist in red and steel colors. The theme for Kyo was the lead singer of a J-Rock band. **Attention readers! It should also be noted that Uchiwa Kyo is also a girl in debt to the Host Club (in the same manner as Haruhi) and has now been instated as the club's newest **_**host**_**. However, it has yet to be said just how many customer requests she must acquire in order to pay off her debt! And, just like Haruhi, none of the customers (and again nor the student body) have any idea that Kyo is not a boy! It can be said that both girls are the **_**androgynous-type **_**since their look and build make telling their gender difficult! Story time again! **

This is the Ouran High Host Club _hosts_.

During this particular afternoon, in which their theme was a J-Pop/Rock night club, their customers were already being treated to their charms and entertainment. Off at the center of the music room, where several velvet and leather covered couches were situated around an elongated oval shaped coffee table, Tamaki was already entertaining several second year girls who had especially requested him as their _host_. They fawned over him with dreamy gazes and heavy sighs as he spoke sweet words into their ears. Off elsewhere, Hikaru and Kaoru teased the girls about them with their play on the taboo of "boy love" and incest between twin siblings, dropping their rather sultry comments to one another with Hikaru acting the dominant role.

From her place on the stage that butted up against the back wall, Kyo sat with Haruhi and several girls from the 1-A class. However, as Haruhi talked politely with the girls, Kyo remained quiet, gaze off elsewhere watching the boys she was now horribly in debt too after her bumping an expensive piece of art by accident and causing its destruction. She was, somewhat puzzled as how easily all these girls were just melting over all the boys, even including the ones that sat with her and Haruhi in the deception that they were both boys. Her face contracted a rather sour look as she watched one girl practically faint after having Tamaki whisper into her ear and touch her cheek. _You have got to be kidding me. _Kyo's brow twitched out annoyance to the whole thing, but was jerked from her own mental loathing as her name was called.

Turning her rather nonchalantly purple gaze to the girls before her, Kyo nearly gagged at their soft dreamy stares in response to her looking at them. Haruhi noticed the look on Kyo's face and poked her in the small of her back with a finger to underhandedly get her attention, seeing as how Kyo had obviously not heard the question imposed upon her. Once that mild glare was on her, Haruhi smiled at Kyo. "Aren't you going to tell our guests about your transfer here to Ouran Academy, Kyo-senpai?"

"My transfer?" Kyo repeated in question while gaze still locked on to Haruhi, but it slowly slid over to the girls that were still waiting rather patiently to hear the answer. "My transfer...hm...well, it was my parent's idea more than anything." Kyo replied while crossing her arms over her chest and looked up at the ceiling in a thinking manner. "But I guess it may have been my own fault too maybe...I think..." Kyo seemed to be off in her own world now, thinking about why it was that she had been transferred in the first place. A rather confused look was starting to cross her face at that moment, and as she looked over at Haruhi with a look that resembled that of a child who was sorely confused as to why they were being punished, "I don't know why my parents sent me here, Haruhi-kun!"

The girls all blushed immediately at seeing Kyo's frustration and were swept away by the unintentional child-like frustration of the older _boy_. As they fantasized about their senpai, Kyo glanced out of the corner of her eye even as her attention still seemed directed towards Haruhi. Both girls looked over at the girls who were now so far caught up in their daydreams they weren't even paying attention to the two _boys_ they were swooning over. Kyo blinked in a stupid manner a few times before she started to lean forward towards them with a hand reaching out towards them, her face holding a rather confused look for the most part as to why the girls had gone so oddly quiet. However, just at that same time, as Kyo was leaning forward, she received a harsh smack on the middle of her back that caused her to suddenly loose balance for a brief moment. Waving her arms madly and trying desperately to steady herself from the fall into the girls sitting in front of her, Kyo was suddenly pulled back against a rather toned chest while slender arms wrapped around her shoulders in a sneaky manner.

One of the two twin faces of the Hitachiin brothers came to peer over Kyo's right shoulder and rest his chin quite comfortably upon her shoulder while a mischievous smirk crossed his face. "Good afternoon Kyo-_senpai_." he cooed into her ear and loud enough for the girls to hear, snapping them out of their daydreams.

Kyo's entire body froze where it was, every muscle clenching and every bone turning to stone instantly in response to his rather intimate interaction with her. If one wasn't bad enough, the other popped up out of nowhere from behind her as well, only he rested his chin on her right shoulder while his arms ensnared her whole arm. "You seem to be doing well on your first day as a host." He mimicked his brother's mannerisms in speech, lips lightly brushing against Kyo's ear to get the best reaction he could out of her, knowing that she couldn't snap on them in front of customers.

"Uh, guys..." Haruhi warned them in a passive manner while watching the whole scene with a worried look on her face as she knew pretty well what the twins were up to at this point.

Kaoru glanced over at Haruhi from his perch that was literally on the back of Kyo, his ginger haired head turning slightly. "What? We're just playing with our new paper fan." he grinned like the Cheshire Cat following his own words.

"We love our Paper Fan-senpai!" Hikaru stated aloud while clutching tighter to Kyo and snuggling up to her even further with his own devilish grin. This act earned the squeals of delight from not just the girls sitting around them, but those who happened to be in ear shot and had them in their line of vision.

"It's so cute!" One cried out while clutching her hands together before her chest.

"It's brotherly love times three!" Another sighed while holding her face between her hands. "Kyo-senpai is so cool."

Kaoru and Hikaru snickered quietly to themselves at the unwanted attention and comments that Kyo was receiving and decided to further push her buttons. Hikaru sighed heavily and did two things that infuriated and embarrassed Kyo – releasing her arm, he snaked his arms about her middle and fell on her in a leaning manner. "Paper fan-senpai smells so good! And you're so soft to lay on." he murmured in a dreamy voice. Every girl in the vicinity literally fainted with a massive blush as they watched the twins smoother the older class man.

Kyo had been holding back her short temper with the twins, but their actions were quickly fanning the flames, and even as the girls drooled over this whole scene the cinnamon haired sophomore was slowly loosing her cool. So when Hikaru pulled his new little stunt in order to further irritate her, Kyo's purple-eyed gaze flared at his acted _homosexual _advances on her, but found that an attempt to possibly kill him for this was hindered by Kaoru's arms that still held their place about her shoulders. Haruhi cringed in fear as she watched Kyo's head bowed low so that her chin almost rested on her chest. The long bangs of her hair cast a shadow over her eyes, and her whole body trembled slightly in response to her penned anger. _Please, please, don't let her flip out! _Haruhi begged quietly as she could see just beneath the curtain of bangs, the glimmer of Kyo's purple-eyed gaze flaming horribly.

Tamaki, Kyoya, Hunny, and Mori were now also watching with a mixed look ranging between them all from curious looks to fearful ones to what Kyo would end up doing in response to this. _She's going to kill them, I just know it! I just hope is quick and painless if she does, then again...those two devils have been a constant pain in my side for a while...DON'T GO EASY ON THEM KYO-KUN! _Tamaki smirked in a satisfied manner as his mind played out the scenes of Kyo strangling the twins at the same time until they turned blue and expired. However...

"Hikaru-kun..." Kyo's head turned slightly to look at the twin who had was really trying to push her temper, her gaze was almost murderous as she looked at Hikaru, however it was hidden from their _customers_ by the long pieces of her hair that fallen in the way. Her eyes were void of anything friendly, all traces of kindness or patience completely gone at that moment.

And for a brief moment, just a brief moment, Hikaru was almost fearful of that gaze. However, his assurances in the fact that she wouldn't dare act out violently against him and Kaoru only caused him to smirk first before smiling up at her. "Yes, senpai?" _Come on Kyo-senpai, don't bore us now. _Mentally a sneaky grin overtook his face.

Almost as if on cue, Kyo's whole face contorted into a rather friendly look, her whole head now returning to its normal upheld position in order to show off the friendly look upon her face to assure the others of her actions about to be taken. "You have other customers waiting for you and your brother's attention. You can use me later, neh?" she spoke in a rather cheerful and older sibling type manner that almost sounded reprimanding in a way.

Both Hikaru and Kaoru were shocked at such a response from Kyo, and their faces showed their reaction quiet well for a very brief moment before they disguised it immediately so as not to give themselves away. However, Haruhi had caught it and was chuckling behind her hand to remain quiet as she mentally cheered for Kyo at the same time. Tamaki stared speechless, jaw dropped in a gawking manner, as he was sure that Kyo would flip out on them and transform into some sort of dark demon lady. Hunny on the other hand giggled behind his bunny before looking up at Kyoya, who had a rather satisfied look on his own normally calm demeanor. "Kyoya-kun, you knew what Kyon-kun was going to do, didn't you?" he asked with a smile.

Kyoya nodded while pushing his glasses up on his nose. "Indeed I did Hunny-senpai. Kyo-san does have a rather short temper when it comes to being teased and prodded as the twins were doing the other day with calling her _"paper fan-senpai"_ and even now, however," he paused a moment and took note of how their customers were all pretty much crowded about the smaller group on the fake stage area. "I also noted, it takes quiet a lot to actually embarrass Kyo-san as well. She seems to have a high tolerance level for that particular sort of thing. So I knew she wouldn't do anything violent in response."

"Kyoya, you could have at least let the rest of us know." Tamaki whined mournfully while slouching.

Hikaru pouted, out of both acting and in response to the fact that his plan hadn't worked as well as he had hoped it would, and started to tear up a bit as he gazed up at Kyo. "But, but, senpai..." he trailed off and glanced away from her. "Don't you like having us around you?" he murmured quietly in a choked up manner. Following his brother's lead, Kaoru also was now tearing up and tightening his hold Kyo in a manner that suggested he didn't want to let go at all.

Kyo's slender hand slipped up underneath Hikaru's chin and then with a gentle grasp, turned his face up to look at her. "Hikaru-kun, don't pout, or else I'll have to punish you when we're alone." She instructed, eyes holding a rather confined amount of irritation still from his earlier acts. Kaoru grinned, only to have Kyo's attention turn on him finally. "Don't think I didn't forget about you Kaoru-kun." she stated, her whole face now having turned so that she was precariously close to the youngest of the twins, a mere few inches separating her from him, thus causing Kaoru's cheeks to stain a slight blush red in response.

"Oh, she's good." Tamaki commented, and the other three boys nodded in agreement to this, seeing as how it was quite possibly the first time someone had actually reversed the situation on the boys and putting them in their place for once.

Much to the delight of the Host Club _customers_, this whole scene was a bonus for their day. Not only did they now have a new _host_ with the "bad boy" image that they could now request, but it appeared that the twin brotherly love had now become a trio on the spot.


	4. The Games Begin! Kyo vs the Hitachiin!

_**Chapter Four**_

_**The Games Begin! Kyo vs. The Hitachiin Twins!**_

"Gah! I never thought this day would end!" Kyo sighed while flopping down on one of the couches in the Third Music Room that was occupied by the Host Club. The long black jacket she had been given to wear as a part of the whole theme of a J-Pop/Rock club, had been discarded and draped over the back of the couch before she sat down, leaving the Sophomore in a sleeveless black shirt with a turtleneck like collar. Turning on the couch so her legs dangled over the closest armrest, Kyo laid down on her back with hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling high above. "The girls that come in here are so...bland and needy." She muttered quietly, mostly to herself, but the comment was picked up by Hunny, who appeared in Kyo's line of vision.

Hunny's blonde haired head interrupted Kyo's vision on the ceiling, causing the cinnamon haired girl to blink a few times before raising her brow in response to his appearance. "Kyon-kun is very different from any girl I've met in Ouran, aside from Haru-chan of course!" He grinned while stretching his arms far out to his side in a childish manner. "But the best thing about Kyon-kun is that she can beat the twins at their own game!" He giggled as he then fell down towards Kyo and landed just at her side on the small amount of room given on the couch. Considering the fact that Hunny is as small as he is, and that Kyo was in rather decent shape from what her manner of dress let on, it was incredibly easy for Hunny to land beside her, squirm a bit before laying in the same direction as Kyo and propped up on his elbows with chin cupped in his hands. His small face held the same smile as he met Kyo's alerted gaze with his own.

Kyo smirked slightly in response to Hunny's compliments. "Thank you, Hunny-senpai." She grinned, and was then suddenly sprung upon by the the mentioned third year who became immediately taken by her smile. Hunny somehow managed to wrap his arms about her neck and cling to her in the same manner he had the other day in the garden and began to speak a mile a minute about how cute she looked with that smile and about how they were going to be best friends, eat cake all day long, and so on and so forth. However, Kyo was a bit taken a back by Hunny's sudden friendly gesture of pure child innocence. "Hunny-senpai, I can't breathe! Please get off!" She pleaded while squirming in his hold.

A light chuckle emitted from behind the couch, and both Hunny and Kyo paused in their own moment and looked up to stare at the smiling face of the other blonde of the group – Suoh Tamaki. The one of three second years in the Host Club had his arms folded over the top of the couch and was leaning down on it with a grin on his face. "Hunny-senpai seems to have taken a quick liking to you Kyo-san." he stated, amethyst gaze staring at Kyo in a friendly manner.

"What's not to like about her, Tama-chan?" Hunny inquired while tilting his head to the side a bit as he was slightly puzzled to what sounded like amusement in his younger class man's voice. "Kyon-kun is smart, pretty, and she knows how to handle Hikaru and Kaoru even though it was her first day!" he exclaimed in a sense of excitement.

Tamaki smiled still and nodded at Hunny's words. "I know Hunny-senpai. I was just commenting, that's all." he assured his fellow blonde and then looked to Kyo again. "So, how was your first day as a _host_? I mean other than having to put the twins in their place on the spot like that."

"She did no such thing!" Hikaru snapped from his seat across the room near the massive bay windows where his brother sat alongside him. An irritated scowl was clearly writing itself across his face at that moment in response to what Tamaki had said.

"I'd beg to differ." Kyoya interrupted even as he was busy on his personal PDA at the moment, tallying what profits they had made that day through the various investments and club products they had out to be gobbled down by their female _customers_. "Kyo caught you two at your own game and soundly smarted your attempt to embarrass her in front of others." He pointed out, eyes remaining on his activities the whole time.

Haruhi and Mori agreed with a nod of their heads from their places nearby where Kyo and Hunny were located on the couch. "Kyoya-senpai is right." Haruhi stated in agreement, while slightly grinning. "Although, I do have to say it was rather rude of the two of you to treat Kyo-senpai like that."

Hikaru huffed while his arms crossed and he turned his nose up in response to the reprimands he was receiving, while Kaoru pouted in a sulking manner that was quite opposite to his brother's reaction. Kyo sat up on the couch, Hunny still hanging off her neck, and looked over at Haruhi with a small smile on her face. "It's okay Haruhi, and please don't call me _senpai_ outside of school hours, okay?" she stated, head tilting slightly to the side as she smiled.

This received a few rather peculiar reactions from the other boys, minus Hunny who was still clinging to Kyo and in his own little world at the moment. Tamaki immediately became flustered by Kyo's friendly attitude towards Haruhi and mentally debated with himself if Kyo really was a girl or not as she said she was. Kyoya raised a brow for a brief moment, and if anyone had paid any real close attention to him in particular, they would have seen the faintest of blushes highlight across the top of his cheeks and the disappear as he cleared his throat quietly and went back to his work, waling off to go sit at one of the tables situated in the music room. Both Hikaru and Kaoru took sudden interest in her smile, both held raised brows and were actually leaning forward in their seats to watch her more closely if it was possible. However, it was Kaoru who seemed more entranced at the moment than his brother.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that. Habit." Haruhi laughed while scratching the back of her head. "I hope you don't get too upset with my slip ups that I'm sure will continue to occur." She stated.

Kyo chuckled lightly. "Well, whatever is more comfortable for you is fine with me." she stated while looking down at Hunny, who was smiling still in a dreamy way as small sparkling flowers seemed to be dancing about him. "Um, uh, Hunny-senpai...how long are you going to be hanging off me?"

While Kyo dealt with Hunny's clinging behavior, Hikaru grabbed his brother and pulled him in close to keep the conversation they were about to have with one another to themselves. "Oi, Kaoru, what do you think of this new toy?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Hmm, she's an interesting one for sure, much like Haruhi." Kaoru replied, his gaze flickering off his brother for a moment and over at the mentioned girl they were talking about. "Didn't expect her to stand up against our usual tricks so quickly though. It was kind of...fun." he smiled slightly as he spoke.

Hikaru's brows scrunched in response to his brother's words and looked somewhat annoyed for the most part. "Fun? I'd say it was more disappointing than anything else. I half expected her to blow up at us, not turn around and try to play if off like she did." He muttered and cast a glance over at Kyo who was now having to forcefully pry Hunny off and was looking to Mori for help. His gaze narrowed for a moment before looking over at his brother again, only to find that was practically grinning in Kyo's direction. "Oi! Kaoru!"

"Hm? What?" Kaoru looked over at his brother with a questioning gaze, his amber colored eyes holding a sense of innocence that for some reason tiffed his brother off a bit now.

"Never mind." Hikaru growled quietly while crossing his arms and shooting a glare in Kyo's direction. The cinnamon haired sophomore had managed to finally get up off the couch, but still had Hunny hanging from around her neck, and was still trying to pry him off while shouting for Tamaki and Haruhi to help her. _Annoying woman. So what if she somehow managed to turn the tables on us like that? She's still boring! _Huffing within his mind, Hikaru looked off out the window he was sitting within.

"Mitsukuni, you need to release Kyo-kun." Mori spoke in his usual monotone voice, even and not even wavering once in its carried notes. He also happened to be standing extremely close to the struggling Kyo, and had to bend at his wait in order to reach Mitsukuni's ear and speak directly with him. However, his close presence to the younger student he was aiming to help, caused Kyo to go completely rigid in her body posture.

In one of those odd sort ways, Hunny ceased his merry laughter and looked up at his cousin with a questioning look on his face, eyes wide in wonder. "Oro?" The look on his cousin's face was convincing enough for him, but just to make sure, he looked to Kyo and took note of the startled wide-eyed look that had frozen on her face, and began to tear up as he took as a look for another reason. "Kyon-kun," he sniffed tearfully. "Are you mad at me?"

"Uh, no, that's not it at all!" She frantically assured him while waving her hands wildly. "I'm not mad, it's just that, well, it's kind of hard to move around with you...hanging...off my neck like that." Kyo tried to explain, and was clearly starting to sweat over the whole thing.

Tamaki chuckled lightly as he watched Kyo deal with Hunny the best she could, his gaze holding a rather soft friendly look within its amethyst depths. _Yep, she's gonna be just fine here._ He couldn't help but grin as Kyo gave a strangled noise before almost toppling over, Hunny still attached to her. "Oi, Mori-senpai, I think we need to give Kyo-san a break." Tamaki stated while looking over at the towering upper class man, who merely nodded in response before finally having to physically remove Hunny from Kyo.

Exhaling heavily, Kyo rubbed the back of her neck while Mori held his cousin by the back of his jacket collar, Hunny now looking almost like a dejected puppy as he hung there with big eyes focused upon the new Sophomore. Haruhi laughed aloud behind the cover of her hand at the sight of the mournful Hunny who had been forcefully taken from his clinging position. "Kyo-san, you've had to put up with a lot already today." She chuckled while looking over at her.

Shrugging, Kyo seemed indifferent about the whole thing. "Eh." She replied while running a hand through the short hair on the back of her head and looked over at Haruhi in a lazy manner, her violet gaze looking rather tired in its stare. "It was just another day done and gone now." Kyo smiled a bit as she spoke, as she did seem truly tired from a whole day of school and then club activities right after. "And with that said, I take my leave for home." She pointed out with a cheeky grin. Turing on her heel, Kyo headed off towards the hidden changing rooms set up inside the Third Music Room. "I'll leave this costume in the changing room." Kyo called out while waving her hand back at the boys and Haruhi.

However, things were not going to be that easy for the Sophomore, and this was thus proved as is became apparent that Kaoru and Hikaru were currently missing from their places at the massive bay window they had been sitting at. Haruhi was the first to realize this, her brow furrowing slightly in response to their absence from the bay windowsill. _Weren't they just there a moment ago? _Scratching the back of her head, Haruhi pondered upon this, but her pondering soon ended. In fact, it was interrupted. Interrupted by Kyo's startled cries, and once her gaze was over where she had seen the older school girl headed within, her eyes shot wide as she just stared at the floored Kyo who was flat on her back staring up at the ceiling upon the tile floor. _Oh, dear._

Kyo blinked a few times, first out of surprise, but then her brow furrowed in a rather...evil manner, a dark shadow spreading out from across the bridge of her nose as the twin smiling faces of the Hitachiin brothers appeared within her line of sight. "You." She muttered darkly in accusation to them.

"Look Kaoru! It appears Kyo has fallen for us!" Hikaru laughed with a massive grin on his face.

"It appears so Hikaru." Kaoru chuckled, the same grin upon his face as that of his brother's.

Tamaki slid up from behind Hikaru and smacked the back of his head in a downwards sweep, causing the younger ginger haired Freshman to nearly fall forward. "You little demon brats!" He shouted in an irritated tone, that was loud and basically on the verge of screaming. "How dare you cause such a lovely young woman, and your older class man nonetheless, to fall on her back! That's just so barbaric! Have you no dignity as gentleman?!"

"Oh come off it milord." Kaoru yawned while his brother shot up from his self-caught fall forward. "She's awake, and alive."

Hikaru spun about, a nasty scowl on his face out of complete annoyance to the fact that he had been hit like that. "What the hell was that for?!"

Tamaki returned the same nasty scowl that Hikaru was throwing at him. "Why do you think?!" He spat in response before huffing, and turned to then kneel down beside the rather irritated and steaming Kyo. "Kyo-san, are you okay? Is anything hurting?" Tamaki's voice held a tone of concern as he spoke to the girl who was his own age and in his class after transferring to Ouran.

"I'm fine." Kyo replied, her voice even but spoken through clenched teeth, her violet colored eyes boring holes into the ceiling that she was still staring up at. However, she finally blinked, and as she did so, her gaze glided over to look at the blonde boy staring down at her with worried look across his face. "Seriously, nothing hurts." She assured him as she started to push herself up into a sitting position.

As Kyo moved, so did Tamaki, helping his fellow _host_ up, Tamaki also shot a scowl at the Hitachiin brothers. "The two of you need to apologize to Kyo-san immediately." He stated in almost an order-like manner as he helped Kyo finally stand to her feet and began to look her over like a mother-hen, making sure she wasn't hurt.

Hikaru sneered at this, arms crossing over his chest as he turned his nose up at this notion while his twin brother, Kaoru, held a rather sheepish look on his face as he was a bit unsure whether or not to scold his brother's actions or follow suit. This was not what Tamaki wanted, and his annoyed look showed this clearly. Seeing how this wasn't going to blow over quickly, Kyo sighed heavily while scratching the back of her head before giving the Hitachiin twins a rather even and unamused look. "You two are annoying." She stated bluntly, causing both boys to shoot glares at her, hackles raised in response.

"Those be fighting words!" Hikaru hissed as he took up a ready fighting pose, something a-stereotypical of mimicked Kung Fu.

"I take it back, you're not annoying, you're completely childish!" Kyo muttered.

Now it was Kaoru's turn to become riled up by Kyo's words, as he stood at his brother's side in the same Kung Fu pose. "Paper fan-senpai is pushing for a fight indeed Hikaru!"

"Ah, you're right." Hikaru agreed, his hissing scowl turning into a Cheshire grin. "The Hitachiin brothers versus Kyo-san!"

"Fine by me!" Kyo shouted, her teeth almost barred and her eyes narrowed in an irritated manner. "Let the games begin, and may the best side win!"


	5. A Supermarket Side Trip

_**Chapter Five**_

_**A Supermarket Side Trip, A Bit More of Kyo Revealed**_

A week had passed since the Hitachiin twins and Uchiwa Kyo had declared a game of all out "war" on one another, and so far it looked as though Kyo was winning. Ever prank the twins had tried to pull either back fired on them, or Kyo avoided it completely to then pull her own in a switch of offense. Thus far the prank score stood at – Kyo with seven successful pranks of her own pulled on the twins along with four of their pranks avoided, and the Hitachiin twins with five successful pranks of their own pulled on Kyo while they had avoided two of the pranks she had pulled on them. Fortunately enough, for Tamaki's sake, the warring sides considered the Third Music Room neutral ground and acted in a civilized and friendly manner towards one another while entertaining their customers. However, once the last customer walked out the door and the doors themselves closed, it was usually the twins who pulled the first punch and would try to ambush Kyo. Most of the time it worked, and the majority of the time...it just back fired on them.

Today though, a Thursday to be exact, the Ouran Host Club was entertaining their customers outside of costumes and elaborate atmosphere settings. Haruhi and Kyo were once again sitting together with a few girls that were First Years, Freshman, and were actually having a rather pleasant conversation for the most part with one another, the girls laughing every once in a while when either one of their _hosts_ made a rather witty comment. Tamaki watched them with small glances their way every once in a while, smiling a bit to himself at the fact that it seemed Haruhi had found a _girl_ friend in Kyo, something he had been wanting for her since the first day Haruhi had joined the Host Club to pay off her own debt. He also smiled in relief to the fact that for yet another day, the twins and Kyo weren't pulling pranks on one another in the Music Room itself..._I only hope that it stays that way until this whole thing blows over. Then again, those devils usually get bored of calling truce for too long. _Sighing mentally at this, Tamaki shook it off while returning his attention back to the two girls sitting with him on the couch enjoying a rather pleasant tea and the sweet Lady Fingers that had been prepared for the day's activities.

"Um, Kyo-senpai, are there any other activities you're involved in at school, or is it just the Host Club?" The girl with long dark brown hair asked, who was sitting to the left of the Sophomore. Her brown eyes held a questioning look within them mixed amongst a sense of curiosity about this new student who had transferred in about a week ago.

Kyo smiled at her gently. "Well, considering it's only been about a week since I got here, I'd say at the moment I can only handle one club activity with my current amount of school work. If I took anything else on, I'd probably burn myself out." Kyo replied, while absentmindedly scratching the back of her head at the same time as a sheepish look crossed her face.

The girls giggled behind their hands at Kyo's facial expression as they found it rather cute in their opinion. Haruhi chuckled quietly as well, but at the same time agreed with what Kyo had pointed out in her reply. There were days where just the Host Club activities alone had drained her, and going home to then sit down and fill out her assigned home work was just a bothersome chore in and of itself.

"Kyo-senpai is such a smart man." Another one of the girls, a blonde, smiled in a starry-eyed manner at the cinnamon haired Sophomore she was in awe of. "Tell me though, what made you join the Host Club?" The eager look on her face showed her want to hear something romantic, anything that would cause her heat to skip a beat.

Kyo chuckled lightly in a nervous manner as she was a loss for an answer at that moment. She couldn't well tell them the truth as to why she was apart of the Host Club, but then again, she didn't like to lie either when someone asked a genuinely honest question. _Ah man, what do I do? Do I tell them the truth? Look at her face, she wants hear something smooth or romantic at best. Dammit, what should I say?! _"Uh, well..."

Haruhi held just as a nervous look on her own face as she watched Kyo stall as she searched for an answer that was suitable enough for the girls. However, help would arrive oddly enough in the form of the suddenly appearing Ohtori Kyoya who sat elegantly upon the armrest of the one person overstuffed chair that Kyo sat within to the twin one Haruhi occupied. "Actually, I think I may be able to provide the answer, seeing as how our Kyo-san here, is unable to properly form a sentence for some reason or other." He replied with a smooth smile appearing upon his handsome face. His body position was leaned towards Kyo, his right arm reaching out and resting easily upon the back of the chair behind her head. "You see, when Kyo-san arrived here at Ouran, Tamaki saw potential in him and after speaking with the rest of the club about it, we invited Kyo-san to join." Kyoya explained in a manner that sounded so simple it was almost ridiculous in the ears of Kyo and Haruhi. "And as you can see, we were successful in recruiting Kyo-san here rather quickly. Neh, Kyo-san?" Kyoya looked down at the mentioned Sophomore from his class, a smile on his face.

Looking up into Kyoya's grey-eyed gaze, Kyo choked for a moment as it became apparently clear in her own manner of thinking, that his body position was way to close to her own. The smile he was giving her didn't help either as Kyo could feel her cheeks burning with a creeping blush that was starting to faintly appear. However, she had to quickly shake it off and put on her own act, as she grinned back and looked over at the girls. "Indeed, it is how Kyoya-san has explained it." Kyo replied, and thus brought a murmured and collective sigh from her _customers_. "The idea of a club that caters to the lonely female student with time on her hands, did seem rather interesting." Kyo grinned, only to then have the girls literally swoon in their seats and daydream. _Oh lord._

"Um, Kyoya-senpai." Haruhi held a curious look on her face as she looked at the dark haired boy who was still sitting alongside Kyo at the moment, even as his grey eyes turned towards her. "Where exactly did you come from anyways?" She questioned, puzzled at his sudden appearance and intervention to "help" Kyo with her own explanation.

Kyoya merely smirked in response, and seeing as how her and Kyo's _customers_ were occupied at the moment with their own daydreams, he raised a brow as well. "Oh, well, I was nearby." He replied coolly, but for some reason, his arm on the back of Kyo's armchair moved slightly away from Kyo in response to his own understanding of his position to her. "Even though Tamaki is watching, I like to keep a closer eye on our newest club member, just in case of events like these." Kyoya stated in reply, his gaze lowering at Kyo, who at the moment was watching the girls with puzzled look upon her furrowed brow.

"Are you sure about that, Kyoya-senpai?" The twin voices of the Hitachiin brothers chorusing in all of a sudden as they slid up behind Kyo's chair. Both held mischievous grins on their faces while their eyes glinted at the dark haired Sophomore who they nicknamed "_Shadow King_". "Are you sure it was just to make sure that Kyo-senpai's replies to the girls were the correct ones and not that you just wanted a reason to sit so closely to him?" Hikaru poked at Kyoya's arm.

Moving his arm in a manner that nearly caught the tip of Hikaru's nose, he then gave the twins a rather ominous look while he still held a smile on his face. "Don't you two have other _customers _to cater to?" He stated in a forceful suggestion that was rather passive aggressive to say the least. His monotone sent an icy chill up the spines of not just the twins, but also Haruhi and Kyo as well.

Both Hikaru and Kaoru choked up with a jerking movement to keep away from the skillfully sly Kyoya. "Is it just me, or does Kyoya-senpai seem a bit more hostile today?" Hikaru asked of his twin brother, who merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Not really, then again, it's kind of hard to tell sometimes with him." Kaoru sighed while leaning against the back of Kyo's chair, his gaze glancing down and immediately meeting the slightly narrowed violet gaze of Kyo that was highlighted by an arched brow. Blinking stupidly for a moment, Kaoru suddenly grinned broadly. "What do you think Kyo-senpai?" His mind piecing together an underhanded tactic of scoring a point for his brother and him in their "war" against Kyo. "Do you think Kyoya-senpai just wanted to sit so friendly with you instead of watching out for you?" He asked, his body turning so that he was now slouching over the back of the chair and wrapping his arms about her shoulders, his cheek resting against her own.

"Kaoru-kun, don't push too far with me." Kyo warned in a smiling manner that almost mimicked the way in which Kyoya had dealt with the twins a moment ago. "Or else you'll end up being punished later."

The girls who had been off in their daydreams perked up at this, their expression becoming giddy and starry eyed as their minds played dangerously with various interpretations as to what Kyo would have in store for Kaoru. Haruhi hung her head while sighing heavily at her own thoughts that were on an incredibly different subject. _This is going to be a long, long day._

**Two and a half hours later...**

"Looks like we're free to leave, neh?" Kyo asked while looking back over her shoulder at the only other female member of the Host Club, her own expression looking a bit tired and at the same time it looked eager to depart from the Third Music Room as soon as possible.

Haruhi nodded and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah. You headed home then Kyo-san?" She asked while shouldering her school bag and walking towards the door of the music room.

"Ah." Kyo replied while following after the younger girl, her own school bag slung across the front of her chest from her right shoulder. "What about you?" She asked, curious to know what Haruhi was up to for the rest of the day.

"Well, I plan on stopping over at the supermarket to pick up a few things for dinner tonight." Haruhi replied, her hand pausing upon the ornately curved doorknob of the double doors. "Then I'll head home, I guess." She added in as an afterthought to her first sentence.

Kyo laughed quietly to herself behind the seal of her closed lips. "Sounds like you still have a full day ahead of you." She commented as Haruhi opened the door for them, and walked out after her, closing the door after they had exited the music room. "Do you want some company?" Kyo asked while glancing over at the brunette she walked alongside down the carpeted hall of the massive school building.

Haruhi looked up at the cinnamon haired Sophomore beside her with a slightly surprised look on her face in response to the offer she had made. But immediately, a rather friendly grin spread across her mouth as she nodded politely. "Sure!"

However, as the two girls chatted with one another and walked further away from the Third Music Room, they were watched by three pairs of eyes that were looking out through the gap that had been created between the double doors. Tamaki felt a mix of emotions run through him as he watched the only two female friends he had in the school head out on their own errands. He was happy to see Haruhi with another female student who wasn't trying to recruit her to another school or worse – seduce her. At that, Tamaki made a sour face as the picture of Benibara from the Saint Roberia Womens Institute came to mind suddenly. _But even though I'm glad Haruhi has a female friend like Kyo-san, why do I feel like I got left behind? _Sighing heavily, Tamaki looked down at the twins who were watching after the girls still with raised curious brows. "You two had better just stay away." He pointed out before walking back inside the music room on his own.

Both Kaoru and Hikaru looked back over their shoulder to make a face at the older class man before looking to one another. "What do you think Kaoru?" Hikaru asked while crossing his arms over his chest. "Should we follow after them and get out a final prank of the day in on her, or should we leave it until tomorrow?" He mused, his head tilting to the side a bit as he thought upon this.

Kaoru shrugged while crossing his arms as well. "I don't know." He replied in a sigh. "Do we even have a good enough prank prepared for that crafty woman?" Kaoru pointed out as he for one had nothing in mind at the moment. However, the look he was now receiving from his twin brother caused him to raise a questioning brow in response. "What?"

"Did you just call Kyo-san, a _"crafty woman"_?" Hikaru asked in a rather shocked and almost flabbergasted one of voice. "You're complimenting her?!"

"Eh? What? No, no, I was just...saying that...she's..." Kaoru was at a loss for words as he scratched the back of his head nervously. His brother did have a point, and the fact that he had in fact given Kyo a compliment in her absence did seem a bit out of character for the Hitachiin boy. "You know what, just forget it. Let's just go home." Kaoru stated in an annoyed state as he walked back inside the music room, leaving his brother at the doors blinking in a bit of a dumbfounded manner.

Outside the South Building, Haruhi and Kyo were already stepping out through the main doors and walking across the courtyards of the Ouran Academy grounds towards the front gates of the school itself. To the rest of the school body, they looked like two teen boys walking across the grounds involved in a friendly conversation with one another as if they had been friends forever. But beneath all of that, they were in all truth two teen girls who had been swept up into a small school club by unfortunate turn of events at separate dates from one another.

"So, what do you need to pick up at the supermarket?" Kyo asked while looking down at the shorter teen beside her.

Haruhi thought upon this for a moment as she pieced together a dinner for her dad and herself. "Hm, well, maybe something simple. Miso soup sounds good, with steamed rice and pork filled buns." She started to grin a bit at the thought of the dinner she was going to be making, but her stomach was now starting to pinch in response to the naming of each food item. _Maybe I'll pick something up to snack on as well between then and dinner itself._ Haruhi patted her stomach in a hidden gesture to ease the pinching it was creating.

"Wow, you must be a really good cook then Haruhi-kun." Kyo stated in amazement to the fact that someone younger than her actually had a grasp on things in a kitchen. Growing up within a wealthy household had its advantages, and its disadvantages as well, one being that Kyo was poor with cooking skills and knowing her way around a kitchen period. At the reminder of this by her own mind, Kyo chuckled nervously to herself and felt her lips pull into a nervous grin at the same time. _Maybe it is a good thing that I took up Home Economics when I transferred. _

"I'm not the greatest cook." Haruhi replied with a small grin. "But my mother did leave me a lot of recipes before she died, and since then I've tried each and everyone of them at least once."

"So, you're self-taught then?" Kyo asked, now incredibly curious as to how someone could teach themselves to cook. After Haruhi nodded in reply, Kyo suddenly brightened up as a thought came to mind. "Hey, hey, Haruhi-kun! Do you think you could teach me a few things about cooking?"

Haruhi gave the Sophomore a curious look of puzzlement to her question. "Aren't you already taking Home Economics?" She asked.

"Yeah, but, I'm already having trouble with the whole cooking thing." Kyo replied while again laughing nervously. "I haven't even stepped foot in a kitchen before to tell you the truth, but I figured with the transfer, this would be a good time to learn."

"You've never been inside a kitchen before?!" Haruhi stopped in the midst of her walk and stared at the taller girl with wide brown eyes. When all she got in answer to this was a sheepish grin from Kyo, Haruhi sighed heavily and allowed her head to drop for a moment. "I guess there are downsides to growing up in a rich household." She murmured quietly, more to herself than anything else before looking up at the awaiting Kyo, and gave her a small smile. "Well, I guess the best place to start would be with the basics."

Kyo's violet colored eyes lit up brightly at this and a massive grin appeared on her face. "Seriously?! Oh, Haruhi, thank you, thank you!!" She exclaimed while grabbing the younger girl in a happy embrace that looked rather odd to the other students who were also occupying the same courtyard just before the main gates of the school. A few students just shrugged it off while others still looked on with curious looks since they recognized them as being apart of the Host Club.

Both girls took notice of the odd looks they were receiving, and immediately they put a large gap of space between themselves and they both laughed aloud in a nervous manner. "Great job there Fujioka-kun, your acting skills have improved very much!" Kyo stated aloud while patting Haruhi on the shoulder heartily in a mentor like manner with a fake grin plastering across her face.

"Ah, thank you Senpai! I will do my best to further improve my skills!" Haruhi returned, a near cry to the first time they had met each other and had to act out a scene to cover up a visual misunderstanding.

Both laughed aloud and walked out of the school gates laughing louder as they went and grinning their fake smiles. One male student just shook his head and looked to his friend at hand. "I don't get it."

"I wonder when the members of the Host Club got involved with the Drama Club?" The other boy wondered aloud while lifting a brow at the same time as he looked over at his friend. Both boys shrugged in agreement before walking off to whatever they were up to for the rest of the day.

Once they were outside the gates of the school and a good distance from anyone's view in the main courtyard, Kyo sighed in heavy relief, her breath almost a visible cloud as it was exhaled. "That was way too close...again." She groaned while smacking her own forehead with the palm of her hand. "This whole acting as the other gender thing, not as easy as everyone makes it sound."

"I know what you mean." Haruhi's face pulled into a bland and almost sour look as she agreed with Kyo whole-heartedly. "But now that we've been placed under the identity of being male, if we're exposed, then that could mean trouble for the rest of the guys, and not just in the sense of "_the host club_"." She sighed as her shoulders slouched forward as if a heavy weight was suddenly placed upon them.

"Well, at least we can be ourselves for a small part of the day after we leave school." Kyo pointed out while stuffing her hands into the pockets of her black slacks. The apparent silence coming from Haruhi's end caused Kyo to glance over at her with a somewhat panicked look on her face. "Can't we?"

Haruhi looked up at Kyo with look that suggested she was in a mental debate with herself on whether or not she should even answer that question truthfully. Seeing that look, Kyo grimaced and looked up at the sky overhead. "I hate my life."

Before either girl could say anything more to this, a car horn honk caught their attention and had both girls looking back over their shoulders to see who it was that had honked at them. "Who the heck is that?" Haruhi asked aloud as they spotted a polished onyx colored Roles Royce (the next year's model) driving up towards them.

"Oh that's right." Kyo spoke up suddenly as something struck her at that moment. "That's my ride." She stated simply while giving Haruhi a smile. "You want a lift to the supermarket?" She asked.

Haruhi looked between the expensive looking car and the older girl she had become friends with over the course of a one week span. If had been one of the guys, it probably would have been a limo, and thus she would have said 'no' immediately. However, since this was another female student and the car that had come to pick her up was actually "normal-looking" in the sense that it wasn't over extravagant, Haruhi nodded and grinned in response. "Sure." She replied, and followed after Kyo to the awaiting car sitting alongside the curb.

Both girls got inside the car and set their schoolbags on the floorboard of the Roles while Kyo suggested for Haruhi to give the driver the name of what supermarket she wanted to go to. With the destination given to the driver, the two girls sat comfortably in the backseat of the car and enjoyed the ride while Haruhi gave a small rundown on the basics of cooking to Kyo, who listened intently and seemed to be retaining everything being given to her.

"So, what's the point of adding equals parts water to rice again?" Kyo asked, her and Haruhi walking down the aisles of the small local supermarket just around the corner from the apartment complex that Haruhi lived in with her dad. The cinnamon haired girl stared at the products on the shelves with mild interest, taking note of the various brand names for one specific item.

"Too much water, and your rice will be soggy and runny. Not enough water, and your rice won't cook all the way." Haruhi explained while pulling a small bag of white rice off the shelf and setting it inside the hand held shopping basket she was carrying. "By the way Kyo-san, you act as though you've been in a supermarket before." She commented in amusement to the fact that unlike the other rich members of the Host Club, and all of Ouran for that matter, were normally shocked at the new sights that she had grown up with.

Kyo studied the two different product labels for cooking oil, but at the musings of her younger friend, Kyo looked over at Haruhi. "Well, to be honest, the previous school I attended wasn't some super exclusive upper class academy like Ouran, so I had various friends that ranged from all manners of lifestyle and "social status"." Kyo replied while sighing at the end of her sentence, a distant and almost saddened look flickering within the violet depths of her eyes. "So coming to a supermarket like this, isn't an unusual experience for me." She stated, a soft friendly grin upon her face as she explained herself. "I take it that the boys have been here before, neh?" Kyo asked with a light chuckle in her tone of voice as her brow raised.

"Eh-he, you could say that." Haruhi replied while running a hand through the hair on the back of her head. "It was something I'd rather not go through again any time soon either."

"That bad?" Kyo asked as they moved on towards the produce section of the store. "Let me guess, they acted as if it were something incredibly alien and unheard of?"

Haruhi grinned wryly in response to this. "How'd you know?"

"Because, the first time I stepped inside a supermarket like this one, I felt like I was in a completely different world." Kyo explained as they glanced through the produce section. "Not that it's exactly our fault when it comes to these experiences when we've lived sheltered lives so to speak. But, unlike the boys, I had friends who weren't as privileged as myself." She pointed out while continuing down the aisle ahead of Haruhi.

Chuckling quietly to herself, Haruhi followed after Kyo while thinking about what she had said. _Kyo-san may have a few similarities with the boys, a wealthy family and upbringing, but aside from that, she seems so...so..._"Normal." Haruhi couldn't help but smile a bit at that as she didn't even think it was possible for someone that rich to act that way, especially after having been around the Host Club for so long. Shaking her head at her own thoughts, Haruhi caught up with Kyo and the two finished up the shopping.


	6. Of Serpents and Needles

_**Chapter Six**_

_**Of Serpents and Needles**_

_There's a warm tropical scented breeze blowing gently through and causing the leafy boughs of the palm trees to slowly sway in its breath. The refreshing sounds of water lapping at a sandy shore is rather soothing to say the least. However, there's just one question, one thing that bothers me most of all in this piece of serene landscape..._"How in the hell is this even possible?" Kyo muttered under her breath while crossing her bare arms over her waist as she stared out across what looked like a rather picturesque tropical getaway in the middle of summer.

"I asked that very same question when they brought me here the first time as well." Haruhi replied from her place at Kyo's left.

Both girls wore blank and almost stoic expressions upon their faces, almost making them look like twins in a way, as they stared ahead of themselves. The Ouran High Host Club was holding its usual activities for the day outside of the school. Their customers all sported swim wear ranging anywhere from one piece bathing suits, bikinis, and even the latest fashion trend of the tan-kini, all of which were printed with bright tropical colors. Haruhi and Kyo on the other hand, because they were part of the Host Club and this was in fact a club activity, they were not currently sporting the feminine swim wear the others girls sported. Instead, both "boys" wore board shorts that reached down to their knees and t-shirts. For Haruhi, it was a easy to pull off the t-shirt and shorts thing, but for Kyo...it was a bit more difficult. Even though it was rather easy to mistake the cinnamon haired Sophomore for a boy at first glance and even after, it was a challenge to hide what pointed Kyo's true gender out. But as luck would have it for her, athletic tape was in abundance when it came to the catering provided by the boys for their two female members.

"I don't like this." Kyo spoke quietly so that only Haruhi could hear, her arms moving further up towards her chest. "It's easy to play off being a guy in school uniform, because of the straight lines in the boy's uniform. But in regular street clothes..."

Haruhi gave her friend a sympathetic and reassuring smile while patting her on the upper arm. "It'll be okay." She stated while looking off to where the other members of the Host Club were situated and entertaining their guests. "As long as you stay dry and out of the water, I don't see a problem arising and your "secret" being revealed to the girls here." Haruhi sighed anyways as she noticed how over zealous the Hitachiin brothers were today in their playful romping through this artificial getaway on a tropical island. "As long as the Hitachiin Tsunami steers clear of you at least."

Kyo glanced over at the two redheads who were running about spraying each other with water guns all for the amusement of the girls who giggled and cooed over their "brotherly love". Making a face in response to the near disgust she felt at the fact that there actually were people out there in the world who got off on incestuous relationships between siblings, even acted ones, Kyo looked back over to Haruhi with an unamused look on her face. "How irritated would Kyoya get if I fained being sick?" She asked in all seriousness.

"None to pleased, and unconvinced for that matter." Kyoya's voice cut in on the response, its deep tenor tone sending a literal chill up both Kyo and Haruhi's spines at his usual surprise appearance. "Although, you do get points for actually looking a bit ill." He commented, his brows raising slightly after his first initial glance over of Kyo.

"I'm honored." Kyo returned, an obvious amount of sarcasm dripping from her words and the look on her face. Looking back out at the whole tropical paradise scene, Kyo still seemed on the unimpressed side of things. "I didn't know your family was into the whole billion dollar getaway franchise, Kyoya-san." She commented while barely glancing at the dark haired boy out of the corner of her eye as she spoke.

Adjusting his glasses position on the bridge of his nose, Kyoya couldn't help but smirk somewhat. "My family has investments in a variety of things, the major of course being the well known hospitals we own and run." He explained. "I believe your family has a few other investments other than the hot spring resorts they build and run."

"They do. The second largest investment of the Uchiwa family is in the restoration of the old mountain shrines that are usually near the resorts we build. There's a sub-investment we run in a partnership, in the conservation and protection of the natural environment around those areas along with its wildlife." Kyo nodded in response as she spoke.

Haruhi stared up at the older girl with a rather surprised look on her face. She knew about the hot spring resorts that the Uchiwa family built, owned, and ran up in the mountains, but the other smaller things, she was now hearing about them for the first time. "Your family seems big on tradition, Kyo-san." She mused in comment while a small grin made its way across her face.

Looking over at Haruhi, Kyo held a rather enlightened look. "Yep, and that's more in less thanks to my grandparents since they were the ones who went in on a partnership with a long time family friend in the restoration projects. Even though the shrines do bring in money every year from visitors who take guided tours and even pay to live at the shrines on small periods of time for whatever reasons, my grandparents looked at it more as giving back to the traditions and memory of our country's history. My parents are now the ones who continue on with the projects and everything that goes into them, but they value it the same as my grandparents." Kyo explained while smiling as she spoke, the mention more of her grandparents bringing an ever more present smile than before.

Kyoya chuckled quietly to himself. "Your family does sound like an interesting bunch, Kyo-san."

"You have no idea." She returned, her attention now coming to rest upon him with an amused look.

Before anything else could be exchanged between the three, a large amount of water suddenly struck the backs of both Haruhi and Kyo at the exact same time, the small amount of water splash off landing on Kyoya's arm, to which the dark haired boy merely glanced down at and then back over his shoulder at the grin plastered redheaded twins holding rather flashy super soakers in their hands. Raising a brow, Kyoya looked over at Haruhi and Kyo. Both girls dressed as boys were completely soaked down their backs, and neither one looked very happy. Sighing quietly in a soft exhale, Kyoya adjusted his glasses so that they sat a bit more comfortably on the bridge of his nose and glanced back at the Hitachiin brothers with a warning look. "I'm not going to sympathize for whatever happens to the two of you today after this point on." He stated simply and then walked off elsewhere to attend to the _customers_ awaiting his presence at the moment.

Hikaru exchanged a curious look with his brother in response to what Kyoya had said, and seeing as how neither cued in on what his small warning meant, they shrugged their shoulders and looked to continue their gloating over Haruhi and Kyo. Only, they found that neither of their cross-dressing targets were where they had been and this caused the twins to become a bit weary of their surroundings. "This doesn't sit well with me, Kaoru." Hikaru whispered quietly to his brother while keeping a firm hold on his super soaker.

"Aye, I agree Hikaru." Kaoru slowly scanned the area before them, his eyes taking in every inch of the lay of the land. "If we now have to watch out for both Kyo-san and Haruhi, we will need to have eyes in the back of our heads."

With that, both boys began a rather ridiculous looking stake out routine, moving a few feet forward to then only stop and look about madly in every which direction before advancing forward yet again. Unbeknown to them, both Haruhi and Kyo were watching from underneath the shade of cabana behind the twins with unamused looks on their faces.

"You're already thinking up a way to get back at them, aren't you, Kyo-senpai?" Haruhi asked while glancing up at her older friend with what could have been mistaken for a rather eager look in her eyes.

The Kyo's lips split into a rather devious looking grin that caused a few of the passing girls to flinch for a moment. "Oh you better believe it." She replied, her look now softening to a rather friendly smile that she directed at the girls she had startled, to which they immediately swooned and rushed over to speak with her and Haruhi.

"Kyo-senpai, how come you and Haruhi-kun aren't swimming with the others?" The brunette in a two piece pastel pink suit asked while tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear. A rather shy look was creeping across her face along with a small blush as she was beginning to imagine what Kyo would look like without a shirt on.

Chuckling lightly, Kyo set an arm about Haruhi's shoulders to pull her in next to her side in a buddy like manner. "Ah, yes well, you see I have this weird thing about getting wet. I don't like it." Kyo explained while laughing, which caused the girls to giggle at the little joke the upper class man had made.

The other girl, a much softer shade of brunette and dressed in a one piece white swimsuit, held her giggles behind her hand and was truly enjoying the company of the newest member of the Host Club. "Kyo-senpai, you're such a jester." She teased lightly while a small blush crept along the tops of her cheeks.

Even Haruhi had to chuckle at the small joke her friend had made and in good nature pushed her arm off from around her shoulders. "I'm gonna go get something to drink." She stated with a grin while looking up at Kyo. "Did you want anything?" The question aimed also towards the two girls as well whom they were currently in the process of entertaining at the moment. Both nodded while the darker brunette offered to help Haruhi and both set off towards the small hut-like bar that was a few cabana spaces down from them.

Kyo stared after them for a moment only to look away as the girl who stayed behind quietly cleared her throat. Looking over at her, Kyo smiled. "Looks like it's just you and me for a few minutes Ms. Kuchiki." She smiled at the girl from the Freshman grade, and for a moment blinked rather dumbly at how the brunette was almost glowing a beat red. "Uh, are you feeling okay?" Kyo asked while stepping closer and bending slightly to take a closer look at the girl as it seemed she was suddenly overheating...or something like that.

"I-I'm fine." She replied while waving Kyo off and cast her gaze down towards the ground for the moment while Kyo's brow scrunched in a rather odd manner to express a sense of slight puzzlement. After taking a quick few seconds to calm rapidly beating heart, she dared to look up at Kyo (since the Sophomore stood a good two feet taller than her as she stood only at 4'10"). "Um, Kyo-senpai, what's the real reason you won't go swimming?"

Folding her arms across her chest, Kyo held a somewhat thoughtful look upon her face for the moment as she tried to piece together her explanation, and not just one concerning the fact that she needed to hide her true gender identity. "To be perfectly honest Ms. Kuchiki, it's because I've had a few rather bad experiences when it's come to swimming." Kyo replied with a childish smile on her face. "The first time I got skittish was when I was in elementary school. My parents were throwing an outdoor party at home. My cousins were over and they were teasing me the whole time, chasing me around the whole yard until they finally cornered me at the pool. That's when they picked me up and threw me in. By accident it was the deep end I got tossed into. Even though my oldest cousin jumped in and pulled me out and forced the others to apologize like he did, I still became skittish of the pool. I never wanted to go near it again." Kyo explained, her face contorting at the mention of her cousins exploits that triggered a rather intense flare of irritation that passed quickly. Looking over at the younger girl who looked incredibly compassionate in response to the story being retold, Kyo smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry Ms. Kuchiki."

Kuichiki Miura, the soft colored brunette being entertained by Kyo, smiled softly at the Sophomore and looked out across the artificial "ocean water" that was slowly lapping in on the sandy shore. "So then, I guess large bodies of water are a sort of phobia for you then, neh, Kyo-senpai?" She asked curiously, eyes turning up to Kyo yet again, this time a mixed look dwelling with their depths.

Shrugging, Kyo stuck her hands in the pockets of her board shorts and glanced over at the water. "Sort of, but I'd say more it's just a strong distaste. I don't enjoy being completely soaked or even partially soaked, because of the long time of waiting for your clothes to dry. It's more of a pet-peeve than anything else, but large bodies of water do bother me only because of those memories." She explained while grinning down at Miura.

A rose colored tint crept across Miura's cheeks as she stared into Kyo's violet colored eyes. Her whole body suddenly seemed to throughly warm her from the top of her head to the tip of her toes, and it wasn't because of the tropical environment. "I see." She murmured quietly while clasping her hands before her lap. "I suppose such a cool guy like yourself wouldn't be afraid of anything then, neh?"

For a moment, Kyo blinked stupidly at this question before suddenly bursting into a small laugh and grinned at Miura. "If I didn't have a fear, then I wouldn't be human. Now would I?" She replied with a question of her own that caused Miura to chuckle lightly in response. "But I suppose I do have a few fears. But then again, who doesn't, neh?" Kyo smiled with a toothy grin.

"It's kind of hard to picture you with a fear, Kyo-senpai." Haruhi's voice piped in suddenly as she and the other girl returned with drinks in hand. Handing over a tall frosty glass full of sweetened ice tea to Kyo, Haruhi couldn't help but smirk a bit as she spoke.

A rather sheepish look crossed over Kyo's face in response as she scratched the back of her head. "Yes well, um, I'm sure everyone here has a fear that freezes their blood in the presence of it." She pointed out before taking a long sip from her tea, her attempt to change the subject.

"I suppose you're right." Haruhi replied with a smile as she took up a seat beneath the cabana on one of the lounge chairs and took a refreshing drink from her own drink. "After all," she set the now half glass down on the frosted beach glass table sitting beside her, taking note not to even dare chip it in anyway in case she racked up another debt to the Host Club. "Who doesn't have a fear?" Her musing comment was meant only as that, and exactly an imposed question. However...

Miura and her friend, Asuka, both sat down in the cabana shade along with Kyo, and made themselves comfortable for whatever amount of time they had to spend with the two _boys_. "Well, I guess my fear is spiders." Mirua stated aloud as she tapped the tip of her chin, the look on her face showing the rather nervous feelings that talking about her fear was beginning to bring on now. Shuddering, Mirua nervously tucked back a free piece of her soft brunette colored wavy hair. "I can't stand the way they look with all those legs and eyes. And the fact that they all bite makes me cringe."

"Spiders, eh?" Kyo asked while lifting a brow. "I know their appearances are creepy, but you are bigger than they are you know." She pointed out with a small grin on her face.

"I know, it's just that, well kind of like how you are with water Kyo-senpai." Mirua replied while turning a slight shade of pink in embarrassment about her own fear. As she turned her gaze downward, a soft touch to the top of her head caused the Freshman to quickly glance up and see the older Sophomore smiling at her in a reassuring manner. Her eyes, the size of saucers, stared at the violet-eyed boy who she was suddenly developing a liking for outside just a "_host_".

Kyo's grin widened a bit more as she took notice of the change in the girl's demeanor. "Like I said, everyone has something they're afraid of. You shouldn't be embarrassed by your fear, because one day, you'll do one of two things against it! You'll either overcome and conquer your fear, or you'll find someone who will protect you from it no matter what." Kyo stated with a rather wise ring to her words, and a small nod of her head only further emphasized her point.

Asuka smiled and nodded at her friend as well. "Kyo-senpai is right Miura-chan! I'm afraid of heights, dreadfully afraid to the point of fainting." She laughed lightly while knocking herself on the top of her head with a small fist she made her hand into. "I'm trying to overcome it everyday, especially since I want to fly all over the world after graduating from Ouran."

"Ah, that sounds so wonderful Asuka-san." Haruhi commented as she imagined what it would be like in her own mind, the thought of flying all over the world and seeing the sights outside of Japan, a dream she wanted to indulge in. Chuckling quietly to herself, Haruhi glanced over at Kyo who was practically beaming at the two girls with what looked like a sense of pride. "What about you Kyo-senpai? What are you afraid of the most?" Haruhi asked, seeing as how she knew very little about her friend when it came to personal things like this. At the same time she asked, Haruhi recalled the conversation they had on the drive to her home after shopping at the supermarket together. Haruhi had explained her fear of lightning and thunder, and told Kyo about the times she had experienced her fear with friends. _Kyo-senpai doesn't seem like the type of person to have a horrible fear or even a petty one. I wonder if she really does have a fear...and what? _

"Uh, well..." Kyo trailed off while scratching her right temple, and paused for a moment to quickly make sure the coast was clear and that no Hitachiin ears were nearby to hear it. Looking at the three before her who held inquisitive looks upon their faces and were literally sitting on the edge of their seats to hear her response, Kyo suddenly felt rather nervous and choked quietly. "I'm, uh, afraid of needles." She mumbled quietly, and so low that neither of the three staring at her heard a single word at the end of the sentence and gave the Sophomore rather demanding stares. Kyo tried to avoid their gazes, but somehow Haruhi's caught her and Kyo knew she was defeated. Sighing in a heavy exhale, Kyo's head tilted down so that her chin rested on her chest and shoulders slumped forward. "I'm afraid of needles." Her voice was raised this time, and it was just above a whisper.

Haruhi blinked quietly for a moment before exchanging looks with both Miura and Asuka. "You're serious?" Haruhi questioned, her gaze returning to the now reddening Sophomore who was looking off elsewhere at the moment in an attempt to keep from being embarrassed. _She is serious. Kyo-san is a complicated person, but at the same time, she seems so normal and almost ... average. _Smiling to herself, Haruhi shook her head. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about you getting weird tattoos then."

An odd pause ensued suddenly, a gust of wind blowing through with a tumble weed rolling by as if it were a ghost town to further emphasis the eerie quiet that had come to pass. However, even as Kyo stared at Haruhi with wide unblinking eyes and a rather surprised look on her face, the cinnamon-haired teen burst into a fit of laughter and had to clutch her stomach while doubling over in her seat. For a brief moment, Haruhi, Miura, and Asuka were speechless and blinked dumbly before joining in on Kyo's sense of humor as they too saw the comedy in what had been said between them all. As all four of them continued to laugh amongst themselves, they were soon interrupted as another girl from the 1-A Class rushed up almost out of breath.

Miura recognized the new girl and raised a curious brow in response to her friend's manner of arrival. "Hey, Nanako-chan, what's the matter?"

"It's...Kaoru-san...he's in...trouble!" She gasped between breaths while pointing back towards the direction she had just come from.

Kyo looked over at Haruhi with a somewhat unamused look on her face before rolling her eyes and getting up from her seat after seeing the rather pushing stare she was receiving from her brunette friend. "Oh alright fine." She exhaled in annoyance while scratching the back of her head and walking off towards wherever it was that Kaoru, and no doubt Hikaru too, was at.

While Kyo made her way towards them, the others of the Host Club were a tad preoccupied with the sudden situation one of their own found himself in. During their two-man mission of searching out Kyo, Hikaru and Kaoru had gone a bit overboard with their tactics and before they knew what happened, Kaoru had slipped and fallen off the beaten and cement path of the resort and was now staring straight into the face of his own worst fear. Wide-eyed and shaking, Hitachiin Kaoru could barely hear the shouts of his twin brother or the voices of the other boys from the Host Club. _What do I do?! I can't move, I'm frozen! I'm so scared, someone help me!_

"What the hell are you doing?" Kyo's voice suddenly cut in between the thousands of thoughts circulating around Kaoru's mind at high speed. The cinnamon haired teen was already crouched down on Kaoru's left, elbow propped up on her knee and chin cupped within the palm of her hand. A very bored look was upon her face as she stared down at what had frozen Kaoru stiff in a state of fear.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kaoru slowly looked over at the girl "playing" boy who seemed so nonchalant. A terrified look was clearly painted on his face, and it was reflecting throughout every nervous twitch of his body and the way he stared at Kyo now...speechless.

"STOPPING MAKING HIM SO NERVOUS YOU PAPER FAN!" Hikaru shouted while jabbing a fist into the air above his head, his whole face contorted into a murderous scowl after hearing Kyo's questioned comment. "I'LL KILL YOU IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO KAORU, gah!" The redhead nearly choked on his threats as a fist collided with the back of his head, thanks in part to the appearance of Haruhi. Looking back over his shoulder, teeth barred and eyes narrowed like a furious animal, Hikaru held the back of his head nursing the bump that was beginning to rise. "What the hell was that for?!"

Haruhi shot her fellow classmate a rather reprimanding look that managed to lower Hikaru's fit a degree but not all the way. "You're the one who's making him nervous with all that screaming." Haruhi stated while folding her arms over her chest and looking to where Kyo was sitting alongside Kaoru.

Hikaru growled under his breath. "Whatever! Kyo-san is only going to use this as a way to one up me and Kaoru now!" He snapped while holding eyes narrowed so much that they looked liked slits.

"You obviously know nothing about Kyo-senpai." Haruhi stated while exhaling heavily as she glanced over at the twin redhead from the corner of her eye. ""Maybe if you weren't so focused on trying to prank her every chance the two of you get, you would have already seen that Kyo-senpai is a good person, and an even better friend." She pointed over at the older student being spoken about.

For a brief moment, Hikaru couldn't help but feel a slight sense of guilt punch him right in the stomach as he looked back towards his brother. From the looks of it, it seemed as though Haruhi may hold a point in what she was saying about Kyo. _If she had any cunning bone in her body, Paper fan-senpai will totally take advantage of this! But at the same time, I..._ Hikaru growled quietly at his own thoughts as he watched intently.

"Well?" Kyo asked again while yawning behind her hand and then ran her fingers through her short hair. Her lazy gaze now coming to rest upon what had frozen Kaoru. As she still received no answer from the Hitachiin boy who could hardly shake out a word, Kyo exhaled a heavy sigh before dropping her head, shoulders slouching forward, and the proverbial sweat drop rolled down her right temple. After contemplating the situation for a moment, Kyo glanced up and stared with a narrowed gaze. "So, if anyone were to ever ask "_what does Kaoru-san fear the most?_", this would be the answer, neh?" Kyo wondered aloud while reaching out her slender hand to grab for this thing that invoked fear within Kaoru.

Watching her, Kaoru grimaced in reaction and fell backwards on his rump and then after realizing that he was now **on** the ground, Kaoru scrambled like mad to grab whatever was close at hand and use it as a sort of shield from his fear. Kyo happened to be that whatever was close at hand, and Kaoru clung to the side of the girl he would normally be picking on, desperately. "Kyo-san, what are you doing?!" He hissed through a whisper that was barely even heard by Kyo, who gave him a questioning look in response. "That thing...how...?" Kaoru was literally shaking so hard that even Kyo was now having a hard time staying on her feet.

"What, this?" Kyo asked while somehow maintaining her balance, and nodded at the long thin vivid green colored snake hanging from her grasp. "It's a harmless little green snake, Kaoru-kun." She stated with a rather childish look of confusion on her face and a slight jesting tease in her voice tone. However, whatever small smile that was beginning to pull at her lips, disappeared as she saw the still terrified look that held tight to Kaoru's face as he clung to her side and now buried part of his face into her side as well. She knew exactly what Kaoru was going through and a sense of sympathy appeared as Kyo set her free hand atop Kaoru's head to gain his attention. She gave him a grin before looking back over her shoulder at his panic stricken brother and everyone else who had gathered and were looking rather anxious. "Kaoru-kun; Hikaru-kun looks like he's about ready to burst with frustration." She grinned slightly as she spoke and looked down at Kaoru.

Nodding meekly in response, Kaoru stood as Kyo stood and released her side before bolting for his brother, leaving Kyo standing there with the small green snake in her hand flicking its tongue in and out. Taking a running jump at the last step, Kaoru literally flung himself into his brother's arms who looked like a frazzled mother hen. Tamaki released the breath he had been holding and sighed in relief at the same time as he ran a hand through his blonde hair. Glancing over to the still stationary Kyo, he raised brow after noticing a rather odd look cutting across her face at that moment. Looking over at his friends, he noted their occupied interest with Kaoru and Hikaru's brotherly moment, and then casually walked off towards the girl who was a fellow student in the same class as himself and Kyoya.

"Kaoru, are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Did Paper fan-senpai do anything to you?!" Hikaru questioned in a demanding and rather rapid manner as he held his brother close in a protective manner that the girls all about them took as another play on their "brotherly love" sell.

"No, I'm fine. Kyo-san...Kyo-san just picked it up." Kaoru murmured in response while still shaking from the sudden run in and face off with his own personal fear with snakes.

Scratching the back of her head, Haruhi looked over at Kyoya who was standing near at hand talking to someone on his cellphone and then hung up. "Kyoya-senpai, did you know that Kaoru-san was afraid of snakes?" She asked, curious to know if it was just her and Kyo who were unaware of this until now.

"To be quite honest Haruhi-kun, no, I didn't. In fact, I'm not even really sure what it is that Hikaru-kun is deathly afraid of or even Kyo-san for that matter." Kyoya replied while casually folding his arms across his chest and watched the twins for a moment as even now Hunny joined in on the comforting of Kaoru bandwagon while his incredibly tall cousin stood just off to the side watching with his usual blank expression. "I tend to stay away from the deeply personal, unless completely necessary. This would have been one of those necessary moments." He concluded while stroking the tip of his chin as his soft grey-eyed gaze drifted over to where Tamaki stood with Kyo and raised his brow.

Haruhi nodded her head in agreement to this and couldn't help but smirk a bit as she watched Hunny try to console the slowly recovering Kaoru, even though it wasn't needed. But her gaze soon shifted elsewhere, changing its line of sight to where Kyo had yet to move from and where Tamaki now stood as well. And like Kyoya, Haruhi raised a brow at the sight of the two. Tamaki held a somewhat worried look on his face while holding Kyo's left hand in his own and seemed to be examining it as well, while Kyo had a rather upset look on her face. Seeing this, Haruhi felt a sudden rush of panic start to creep up on her suddenly as something told her there might just be another problem.

However, before the brunette could make a move towards them, Tamaki led Kyo back towards them, making sure to keep her close at his side and stayed rather far from where everyone had clustered. Tamaki glanced over at Kyoya and Haruhi with a rather pensive look on his face that signaled for the two of them to come over as they walked back on to the cement walkway. Following Tamaki's gestured facial signal, both members of the Host Club made their way over to them without taking the attention of the others with them.

"Kyoya, I need you to make a call to one of your family's hospitals." Tamaki stated in a low tone of voice, near a whisper in fact, as he and Kyo came to a pause once Haruhi and Kyoya joined them.

Both Kyoya's brows rose in response to this as he hadn't been expecting such a sudden request from his friend. "The hospital, why?" He asked, while at the same time he pulled his cell phone out from the pocket on his shorts.

Tamaki gingerly held up Kyo's left hand for both Kyoya and Haruhi to see the several pairs of bleeding prick-like wounds that dotted the side and top of her hand. "Kyo-san needs to have these looked at." He replied while still holding that rather pensive look on his face. "A tetanus shot is possibly going to be needed I'm afraid."

Kyo tensed up immediately at the first mention of a hospital, and had gone completely stiff as a board as soon as the suggestion of a tetanus shot was made. Her violet colored eyes were now wide in what Haruhi noticed as a sense of panic and fear. _Oh no, Kyo-san is afraid of needles! She looks as terrified as Kaoru did with the snake._ "Kyo-san, are you going to be okay?" Haruhi asked in a cautious manner, a tensive hand reaching out and resting lightly upon Kyo's right arm as she stepped closer.

Biting the bottom of her lip, Kyo cast her gaze down to her feet, a shadow now hiding her facial expression from view as she shook her head in response. "But what choice do I have?" She muttered hoarsely in a low whisper.

Haruhi sighed quietly and glanced over at Kyoya who was already on the phone with the hospital, and then looked to Tamaki who looked worried sick over Kyo's response. _Tamaki-senpai reminds me of a worried mother, kind of like how my father acts now when I even cough. _For a moment she would have chuckled at the thought, but she was cut short by the sound of Kyoya's phone clicking shut. "Kyoya-senpai?"

"I told them that we'll be bringing in Uchiwa Kyo, and their already on standby." Kyoya announced to the small group he stood within. "There's no need to make a scene of things, and someone needs to stay behind and make sure that things wrap up here soon." He explained while looking over at the others who were now already joking around and laughing at Hikaru's attempts to pry Hunny off Kaoru. "Tamaki, why don't you and Haruhi-kun take Kyo-san to the hospital while I take care of things here." Kyoya waved them off as he turned to take care of the Host Club event that needed to be wrapped up now.

Tamaki nodded briefly and then looked down at Kyo who was still staring at the ground. "Kyo-san, let's be on our way." He ushered gently while guiding Kyo off towards the exit of the tropical getaway, and gestured with his head for Haruhi to follow his lead.

Falling in line at Kyo's unaccompanied right side, Haruhi followed her friends outside where a limo was already waiting for them. Somehow, Haruhi couldn't help but sigh after seeing the small shinny black vehicle waiting for them, but shook it off as her friend's predicament was more important at the moment.

Back inside the tropical getaway, the _customers _were using the changing rooms as the Host Club event had finally concluded after nearly four hours of fun in the sun. While the girls tended to themselves, the Host Club found themselves without three of their members. Hunny scratched the back of his head while looking about the vast open and empty beaches they had been playing on. Neither Tamaki, Haruhi, or Kyo were to be seen, and the small blonde senior was now beginning to grow puzzled over this situation.

"Hmm, where are Tama-chan, Haru-chan, Kyon-chan at I wonder?" He mused while skipping between the several large cabanas and quickly searched them, the search involving him throwing out every chair and table out of the cabanas. "They're not in here." Hunny murmured quietly while coming back to where the other boys were standing, and began to rub furiously at his eyes as they were tearing up now. "Where'd they go?" He sniffed.

"Good question." Hikaru stated while stretching his arms high up over his head and yawned. "All three of them disappeared." He mused in a rather nonchalant manner as he rubbed the back of his neck. "That doesn't seem so odd though, seeing as how m'lord is involved."

"Actually, it's nothing to worry over." Kyoya stated as he adjusted the position in which his glasses rested upon the bridge of his nose. "We'll see them soon enough. Until then, I believe I need to make a few calls to the architects to exclude the free range wildlife from the resort." The cell phone was flipped out before the end of his sentence and immediately Kyoya was occupied with the head architect that worked for his family's company.


	7. The Hospital Showdown

_**Chapter Seven**_

_**The Hospital Showdown**_

"**KYYYYAAAAA!!!!!**"

This sudden outburst was soon accompanied by the sounds of loud banging and crashing that had all in that particular part of the hospital frozen stiff as they stared down the hall from where the commotion was coming from. Fujioka Haruhi and Suoh Tamaki both held rather nervous looks on their faces while their brows began to sweat as they knew who was responsible for making such a racket, especially once the profane cursing began to shoot out next. Exhaling heavily in unison, both dropped their heads and let their shoulders slump forward.

"Well, I suppose one of us should go in and see what the problem is." Tamaki murmured while standing up from his seat in the waiting room lobby outside the nurse's station. Running a hand through his blonde hair, and letting it come to rest on the back of his neck, Tamaki stared off down the hall with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. But that look quickly disappeared as the small rolling stool that the doctor normally used shot out of the room doorway and hit the wall opposite from it, and the president of the Ouran High Host Club felt a sense of fear overcome him in consideration for his own well-being now.

"I guess you didn't know either then." Haruhi stated while keeping her gaze fixed down the hall for the moment and then looked back up at Tamaki. "Kyo-san's greatest fear - is needles." Haruhi explained while standing up as well and sighed quietly. "I guess I should go see if I can calm her down then." She mused while starting to take a step forward, only to be halted by Tamaki's hand coming to rest on her shoulder. "Senpai?"

Tamaki was quiet for a moment, as if contemplating something, and then looked down at Haruhi with a small assuring smile. "Haruhi, let me take care of this. After all, Kyo-san is a friend of mine as well, and I would like to help her out. Plus, it'll give me a chance to get to know her a little bit better. Okay?"

_That's right. Even though Tamaki-senpai and Kyo-san are in the same club and class, they really don't seem to know each other that well at all. Maybe this is a good time. _"Okay, I'll wait here for you two then." Haruhi agreed while nodding her head and grinning a bit. As Tamaki began to head off, Haruhi felt a weight seemingly lift off her shoulders and sat back down in her chair to wait and see what would happen now. _I just hope Kyo-san doesn't injure him by accident._

Walking down the hall, Tamaki had a rather cool and clam demeanor about him, even though there was still a ruckus coming from the room that Uchiwa Kyo was in. _It's okay, I'll just go in and see how she's doing, try and get her to calm down...and hopefully come out alive after it. _He forced himself to gulp down the sudden emergence of fear that had appeared, and could now feel his knees starting to tremble and then escalate to knocking as the small metal table shot out next and embedded itself within the hallway wall. "She's insane!" Tamaki whispered hoarsely to himself in comment of the girl's seemingly inhuman strength at this point in time.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME! I SWEAR YOU'LL FOLLOW THAT TABLE NEXT!"

"Geez!" Tamaki cringed and defended himself with his arms even while still out in the hall and began to have second thoughts about going in. "No! A gentleman never goes back on his word, nor leaves a lady in distress, no matter how violent they've become in this distressful situation." He exhaled heavily in a nervous manner as he adjusted himself and then proceeded to walk to the doorway and step foot inside the small room to just catch sight of Kyo vaulting over the medical bed and set it between herself and the two doctors, four nurses, and three orderlies. Tamaki's amethyst colored eyes were as big as saucers upon sight of how many it was already taking to try and deliver the needed tetanus shot to Kyo.

"Please, Uchiwa-sama, we're only trying to help you." The head doctor stated, his own hand holding the tetanus shot. "Even though you weren't bitten by anything harmful, even the small bites of a tiny constrictor, like a green snake, can cause infection." The doctor tried to explain once again to calm the teenager down the best he could.

However, the feral and terrified look on Kyo's face was going nowhere soon and that remained apparently so as she seemed to now bear metaphorical cat ears and tail in response to the doctor's explanation, and if Tamaki wasn't mistaken, then hissed as well. "Uhhh, Kyo-san?" Tamaki tried to be as careful as possible as he approached the agitated girl, and thus the reason as to why held his hands up to show he meant no harm and wasn't sneaking up on her with any needles either. As soon as her glaring gaze snapped over to him, Tamaki jumped and almost turned tail to run for his life, but somehow he managed to stay where he was and offered a nervous smile to her. "What's the matter?"

"What's the matter?! WHAT'S THE MATTER?!" She nearly shouted while standing at her full height and jabbed a pointed finger in the direction of the hospital workers.

"She's up!" One of the orderlies cried before making a lunge for the teen, only to have a small table canister hit him square between the eyes. Knocked backwards by the blow, the orderly was sprawled out on the floor almost twitching in response to the hostility that hit him. The nurses tended to him, gently asking if he was still alive, while the other two orderlies and the doctors now looked over at Kyo with stricken looks of fear.

Tamaki chuckled nervously in response to what had just happened and looked over at Kyo with concerned look on his face as he decided to tempt fate and move closer to where she was. "Kyo-san, Haruhi-kun told me about your fear." He stated gently, hands still up to show her that he meant no harm. "Why didn't you say anything at the resort?" He asked, now having made it safely to Kyo's side of the medical bed and stared down at her with a rather sympathetic look on his face as his concern for her well being was beginning to build even further.

For a moment, Kyo stared speechless at Tamaki before looking away in a sense of shame at having such a ridiculous fear turn her into such a coward. "Because, I didn't want anyone to know I had such a stupid fear." Kyo replied quietly, her eyes looking at Tamaki in a sideways glance. "I helped Kaoru-kun out with the snake because I thought it was the right thing to do, but I didn't even think about being bitten by it in the end like that." She stated while looking down at her hand that held the small puncture wounds that had stopped bleeding, the dried blood letting everyone know what had happened.

"Even if you did know, I think you still would have helped him out Kyo-san." Tamaki stated while setting a hand on her shoulder, a friendly grin was on his lips as he spoke. "You and I may not have known one another long, but from what I have seen since you joined the Host Club, you're a good person with a big heart for even "little devils"."

It seemed as though all fear had suddenly left Kyo at that moment, her face holding as rather surprised and somewhat taken back look to it as she listened to Tamaki speak about her and her actions. The look on her face alone wasn't the only thing, as her whole body seemed to relax for the moment as the threat of being stuck by a needle was no longer there. Kyo studied Tamaki for a moment, earning her a classic questioning gaze from the tall blonde in return thus causing her let a small laugh escape behind her lips. _I wonder if it's good thing or just plain weird, but somehow, Tamaki-san got me calm down while everyone else has just failed. _

Seeing and hearing the laugh, Tamaki perked up immediately at this. "Ah! Kyo-san's feeling better now?" He asked while setting his hand upon the top of her head in a friendly almost big brother manner. "Ready?"

"Don't push it." Kyo muttered while batting away his hand with a somewhat embarrassed look lighting its way across her face as she looked over at the head doctor who shooed away the others so that it was just the three of them in the room at the moment. Her brow creased as she stared at the older man who seemed to have more than enough patience to wait out her temper tantrum earlier. "I guess..." She sighed, causing Tamaki to grow a curious stare. "As long as you stay here, I might be okay." She grumbled as rosy tint stained the tops of her cheeks as she glanced over at Tamaki for his reply.

A massive grin spread across his face and Tamaki couldn't help himself as he grabbed Kyo up in a bear hug as he had done many times with all his friends. "Kyo-san! You've made incredibly happy to hear that you want me to stay with you through this ordeal of yours! We are truly sailing down the path of absolute friendship now!" He cried out merrily.

"Would you let go?! And you don't sail down a path! You walk!" Kyo shouted in an embarrassed state as she tried to push Tamaki off her, but ultimately failing in the end as his overly affectionate actions were proving to be just as super strength as her own personal power.

Exhaling heavily with a defeated look on his own face, the head doctor just shook his head as he approached Tamaki and Kyo, hand holding the tetanus shot hidden down at his side so that way Kyo wouldn't see the needle itself and start her panic all over again. "Well, as long as you and Souh-sama stay still." He instructed while coming around the medical bed to their side. "Uchiwa-sama, it might be a good idea, especially for those skittish around needles, to look in another direction other than this one. Helps keep the body relaxed and minimizes the small amount of pain from the shot itself."

Muttering something beneath her breath, and from behind Tamaki's arms that were currently wrapped about her head and shoulders, Kyo looked off towards the open door of the room. Feeling the doctor roll her short sleeve up, Kyo forced herself to remain as calm as possible. Instinctively her free arm came up and grabbed for Tamaki's shirt at the back as her own panic sought security in something. Tamaki remained still and held Kyo as he realized her grip on his shirt was her way of showing her rising fear. Swabbing her upper bicep at the shoulder quickly with a prep pad, the doctor quickly and smoothly pricked Kyo's skin with the needle and injected the antibiotic to fight any signs of tetanus infection from the snake bites.

It took only thirty seconds for the shot to come and go, but the thought of the needle prick and then feeling it caused Kyo to tear up a bit as she bit down on her bottom lip in response to the overwhelming sense of panic, fear, and stress were starting to shake her nerves. The next thing to be done before she could leave – cleaning and wrapping the small bites on her left hand. This only took another two minutes, in which Tamaki remained at Kyo's side as she sat on the medical bed while the doctor applied ointment to the small wounds and then wrapped them with stretch gauze and medical tape.

"All set." The doctor announced as he cut the tail of the tape he had wrapped about her whole pinky finger. "I'll let the nurses know to fax your papers over to your personal physician, and you're free to leave Uchiwa-sama." He stated while peeling the latex gloves from his hands and winked at the young woman who held a rather aggravated look on her face still. Excusing himself, the doctor stepped out of the room.

Tamaki sighed a small exhale in relief and glanced over at his friend with a reassuring smile on his face. "See, that wasn't so bad. Was it?" He asked, feeling as though he missed something else during the whole event to cause a great amount of aggravation in Kyo.

The lightly colored red head slid down off the medical table and shook her head in response. "Let's just get Haruhi-kun, and get the hell out of here. Please." Kyo replied as she marched off towards the door.

"As you wish, Kyo-san." Tamaki smiled while following after her and entered the hall with hands tucked away into his pockets. "At least you've taken a new step in overcoming your fear at least. Neh?" He asked, falling into step beside her.

Kyo stared somewhat down the hall while also looking at the floor at the same time. "I doubt it." She retorted in a gentle but still rather harsh manner at least in opposition to the encouragement that Tamaki was trying to offer. "It'll take a lot more time than just one overcome to nullify or eradicate my fears." Kyo explained before they stepped out into the waiting lobby where Haruhi was up out of her chair and coming to meet them as soon as they were spotted.

Tamaki raised a brow in response to what Kyo had said, but then grinned somewhat. "I guess not. But we'll be here to help you through it as long as possible." He stated just before Haruhi got to them, causing Kyo to pause and look back over her shoulder up at him with rather childish look of confusion. "That's what friends do."


	8. Kyo's Long Day Part 1

_**Chapter Eight**_

_**Kyo's Long Day – Part One**_

"So, can anyone tell me what the answer to this problem is?" The teacher asked of his class while marking out the mentioned problem on the blackboard with a piece of pearly white chalk clasped between his thumb and forefinger. However, his question wasn't entirely directed at his whole class, as it was directly at one particular individual who at the moment had their head down. As the last line was drawn out upon the board, he turned back around suddenly, wrist flicking out to send the piece of chalk towards the student he had targeted in his sights since the start of the period.

The others students in the class all gasped at their teacher's actions, eyes and heads turned to follow the piece of chalk as it whizzed through the air. Both Suoh Tamaki and Ohtori Kyoya looked between them at the newest member to the Host Club and fellow classmate, who at the moment had their head down upon the surface of their folded arms atop the desk. Tamaki stared with large eyes at the cinnamon haired Sophomore, while Kyoya held a rather blank look on his face as he stared as well. The piece of chalk was just inches from hitting right at the crown of the head, when the right hand shot up suddenly and caught the piece of chalk within slender fingers.

The whole classroom went silent, and their teacher narrowed his eyes at the student he had been aiming to peg, as Uchiwa Kyo started to look up from his "small" nap during class. A dark look glared out from those amethyst colored eyes as they rose up from beneath heavy eyelids, but the look vanished rather quickly as a large yawn escaped his mouth, and Kyo immediately sat back in his chair to stretch. The teacher's brow twitched in response to the laid back manner in which the new transfer student was acting in the middle of class.

"Uchiwa-san, is there a proper answer as to why you find it necessary to be napping in the middle of class?" The teacher asked, an irritated tone in his voice as he spoke.

Again, Kyo yawned while then leaning forward to prop his left elbow up on the desk and rested the side of his cheek within the palm of the hand, while casually examining the piece of chalk that he had caught. Setting the piece of chalk down on the top corner of his desk, a lazy gaze flickered up towards the salt-n-pepper haired teacher standing at the front of the class with a deep scowl upon his face. "Troublesome." He murmured while taking the time to line the piece of chalk with the edge of his desk, and then yawned yet again.

The teacher's brow twitched yet again as he exhaled loudly, and then in one swift moment, grabbed the eraser from behind him on the blackboard ledge and then shot it off towards Kyo during the middle of his yawn. This time, the target was the spot right between his eyes. However, as Kyo yawned, he also stretched backwards letting that cinnamon colored head drop back just as the eraser whizzed by just an inch from touching the tip of his nose. This action caused many of the students to stare with dropped jaws at their fellow classmate who was now sitting back up in his chair and looking rather bored.

Tamaki stared at his friend with a pale look on his face at the rather hidden "_shinobi" _talents he had never exhibited until now. "K-Kyo-san!"

"Eh?" Kyo looked over to his right where Tamaki sat at his desk, a rather bored and almost unamused look on his face.

"Uchiwa-san, since you've been so attentive thus far in class, would you care to answer the question on the board?" The teacher asked while folding his arms over his chest and scowling deeply, the pulsing vein apparent on his right temple.

Kyo blinked a few times and leaned forward, squinting at the blackboard holding bold scrawling white letters upon its face. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" He murmured the question loudly enough for the class to hear. Sitting back in his seat, Kyo crossed his arms casually across the top of his desk with a rather aloof manner about him while continuing to stare at the blackboard. "What a dull question."

"So, then you have no answer, Uchiwa-san?" The teacher asked while taking on a rather smug smirk on his face as he had finally caught the lazy transfer student and was about to reprimand him, had it not been for the fact that he started to actually answer the question imposed upon the whole class.

"It's a riddle given by the Mad Hatter to Alice during the tea party in the classic piece of child's literature, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, authored by Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson who wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll." Kyo interrupted just as his teacher was about to berate him with a lecture on remaining diligent and focused in class. "Carroll originally wrote with no intention to a solution to this riddle, in a new preface to the 1896 of _Alice_, he proposes several answers: 'Because it produce a few notes, tho they are flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!'" Kyo paused a moment and noted the rather dumbfounded look on the face of not just the teacher, but also his classmates, then continued. "You should note the spelling of 'never' as 'nevar' – turning it into 'raven' when inverted. It was a pun made up by Carroll that would later be lost in later editions."

The teacher stared with both a dumbfounded and somewhat irritated look on his face while his shoulders slumped forward in disbelief to the extent in which Kyo had answered his question upon the day's literature subject surrounding quotes and lines from classic works and what they could mean. Apparently, the lazy student wasn't so lazy after all, and paid much more attention in class that what was thought as seen in the length and depth of his answer. Choking on his own irritation that was forced down, the teacher cleared his throat and stood straight with shoulders back. "Yes, well, very good Uchiwa-san. But I would appreciate it if you would please pay more attention to your lessons in the future." He stated before returning to the task of teaching his students.

An hour and a half later, and the bells chimed to announce the lunch period throughout the whole academy. The students were dismissed to retreat for a moment and feed their growing amount of hunger however they pleased at the cafeteria. As the students of class 2-A made their way out of the classroom, the three members of the Host Club were the last to leave after their fellow classmates.

Tamaki stood beside Kyo's desk as the cross-dressing _host_ was sweeping her books and notes into her school bag before dropping it down on the hook sticking out in a curved manner on the side of her desk top. "Kyo-san, you really shouldn't fall asleep like that in class." He pointed out in a gentle reprimanding manner.

Shrugging in a carefree sort of manner, Kyo looked up at Tamaki and smiled before she got up out of her chair. "I know, but I've been staying up late every night lately, and I'm just not a morning person as it is. I can't help it." She replied in a sort of helpless manner to Tamaki, who shook his blonde head with a small smile on his face.

"Insomnia?" Kyoya questioned aloud as he too finally stood up from his desk and adjusted his glasses as they had slipped a bit down the bridge of his nose. His grey eyes turned upon Kyo, and as he did, Kyoya recalled the dark glare that been merely glimpsed in Kyo's gaze as it rose in response to the teacher's attempted chalk attack. "Or are you just a night owl, Kyo-san?"

"Something like that." Kyo replied while looking back over her shoulder at Kyoya. "I have a test coming up in my Economics Class within the week, and I 've been staying up late to practice with some of the recipes that Haruhi-kun had given me to borrow." She explained while following after Tamaki to leave the classroom, Kyoya following along with her.

Tamaki perked up at this and glanced back at his only other female friend in the whole academy, with a literal emphasis on the term of friend. "Ah, so our Kyo-san is an inspiring chef in the making." He mused with a grin.

"Ahem, Uchiwa-san." All three stopped just at the door of the classroom at the call of the teacher to Kyo, who looked over at him with raised brows and hands tucked away within the pockets of her black slacks. "I must say, that I was quite impressed with your answer today. Your explanation on Lewis Carroll's riddle used by the Mad Hatter, it sounded as though you actually have a great amount of knowledge when it comes to classic literature." He mused from his place still near at the blackboard.

"I know a lot about a lot of things, Sensei." Kyo replied with a rather blank look on her face as she spoke. "However, I would like to apologize for falling asleep during class today. It won't happen again." She bowed her head after speaking, and earned a rather pleased look from Tamaki in response, while Kyoya held a rather studying look as he watched Kyo speak with their teacher. Receiving a rather gruff response and a nod of the head from her teacher, Kyo bowed yet again and departed with her friends for the cafeteria.

Tamaki fell into step at Kyo's left as the massive halls of the academy allowed for such a thing as even Kyoya found his place on the girl's right, and yet there were many other students coming and going around them without any trouble at all. The blonde _king_ of the Host Club gave Kyo a sideways glance with a rather puzzled expression in response to what she had said to their teacher. "What did you mean by 'I know a lot about a lot of things' anyways?" He asked, curious to know if she had just said it to be cheeky or if it was indeed true about her nature.

"Exactly what it sounded like." She replied bluntly while staring straight ahead down the hall. "I know I don't look like it, but I do have the ability to attain and reattain what I've learned." Kyo pointed out as she looked up at the blonde boy beside her with a rather cheeky grin on her face that caused Tamaki to take on a rather flustered look as her comment seemed to point out that he was possibly making fun of her somehow. "Ah, what's the matter Senpai?" She began to tease while sliding up beside him and poking his bicep playfully. Leaning in sideways, Kyo held a rather fox-like appearance to her grin. "Did you really think I was offended?"

"I, uh, well, cut it out!" Tamaki stated while trying as much as possible not to turn red in response to her continuing jest. However, it all failed on his part as Tamaki burst into laughter once Kyo started to orbit around him in a rather poking manner while still asking him similar questions to the first one including - _"Come on senapi, will you tell me?", "Neh, senpai?", "What's for lunch?" _Tamaki was now faced with a clinging Kyo who had somehow attached herself to his waist in a Hunny-like manner. "Kyo-san, stop it! That tickles! Kyoya, Kyoya help me!" He gasped between his laughing and looked over at the dark haired boy who was giving them a rather unamused look at the moment.

Kyoya inclined a brow as he watched Kyo cling to Tamaki, a metaphorical fox tail wagging back and forth, and shook his head in response to the blonde's chuckling pleas for his help. "I think I'll let you handle this one on your own." Kyoya replied while squashing a rather odd feeling that begun to rise within him for a brief couple of seconds, and continued off down the hall towards the cafeteria. _It's only been a couple of moths since Kyo-san became apart of the Host Club, and already she's picked up a few of Hunny-senpai's traits, gotten into a prank war with the twins, and has managed to find a near doppleganger in Tamaki and even Haruhi-kun as far as personalities go. However, she is a rather intelligent young woman. Not even I would have been able to answer that question with such a in-depth amount of detail. It was actually rather impressive, even her ability to avoid being hit by the teacher's attempts to reprimand her napping in class were on par with that of Mori-senpai and Hunny-senpai. Kyo-san...is...she's beginning to confuse me somehow. _Shaking his head, Kyoya ran a hand through his dark hair as he tried to convince himself that whatever had suddenly flared up during the teasing tussle between Tamaki and Kyo, was nothing to worry or note at all.

Reaching the cafeteria, Kyoya was met by a few of the 1-A female students were also customers to the Host Club, and they halted his progress for a moment. The girls almost surrounded him, starry-eyed at his appearance and cooed over their later appointments they had made for the Host Club, especially since they had requested Kyoya specifically this time. Conversing politely with them for a moment, Kyoya gave them a smile while excusing himself and entered the cafeteria, and somehow managed to avoid being run over by the Hitachiin whirlwind that suddenly blew in. Both Kaoru and Hikaru popped up before the food counter to order their lunches, leaving a somewhat annoyed Kyoya in their wake who adjusted his glasses yet again and straightened his tie while walking all the way into the cafeteria. For the mos part, his presence was as always murmured upon by many female admirers, and even some of the male students made comments to one another about the third son of the Ohtori family.

"You definitely know how to enter a room."

The sudden comment caught the dark haired boy off guard, for possibly once in his life, and in response nearly jumped out of his skin while looking off to his right in a quick manner with an accusing glare. "I could say the same about you, Kyo-san." Kyoya snapped dryly while straightening himself and tugged on the hem of his jacket to set it straight to appear neat.

Kyo's amethyst gaze drifted up at an angle to meet Kyoya's glare while keeping her head faced forward the whole time. "I don't make it a point to enter a room, Kyoya-san." She replied in a rather nonchalant manner while walking away into the cafeteria and headed towards the lunch counter where Hikaru and Kaoru were giving the lady behind the counter a hard time. Walking up behind them, Kyo stood in the space between and while she held one hand tucked away into the pocket of her pants, her free hand swiped out at the back of their red haired heads and smacked them almost simultaneously. The two boys stumbled forward from being smacked, and made a sort of strangled noise in response. "Knock it off already you two." Kyo muttered in a near command like voice as she strode off further down the counter to grab her own lunch.

The twin brothers held the back of their heads and scowled at the departing Sophomore who had smacked them from behind so casually. Hikaru looked over at his identical other half with a rather irritated and yet scheming look on his face. "Neh, neh, Kaoru, I think now is the time to up Paper Fan-senpai in the war." He stated while slowly looking over at his brother, eyes moving only while a Cheshire grin spread across his face.

Kaoru returned the same look to his brother and agreed. "Ah, indeed Hikaru. We failed to tag her at the getaway resort, tis only fair that we accommodate for that little absence." He stated, while at the same time, Kaoru mentally shuddered as he remembered how Kyo had picked up the little green snake that had frozen him stiff with fear. _How could she even do something like that? _Shaking it off, Kaoru grabbed his tray alongside his brother and followed him off to an empty table where they could stash their lunch before sneaking off to track down their 'target'.

While the twins plotted their prank of the day on Kyo, the targeted Sophomore (who was blissfully unaware at the moment of the Hitachiin plot) picked up her own lunch and had since wandered off to find a somewhat secluded place to sit near the massive bay windows filling almost two walls of the cafeteria from floor to ceiling with their presence. The cinnamon haired girl found a rather nice spot, and even somehow managed to evade the attention of the girls who admired her as the "_rebel type_" of the Ouran Host Club. Sitting down, Kyo exhaled quietly before glancing out the huge window at her immediate right, watching a swirled up stream of yellowed ginkgo leaves flutter by in the signal of autumn's onset. It had been nearly two months since she had transferred to Ouran Academy, pulled into the Host Club through a run of bad luck in which she accidentally destroyed a very expensive art piece, and was now having to assume a male identity for the moment and possibly even further till graduation.

_Damn, I didn't even think about that part. _Kyo growled quietly within her throat while her face drew a sour look and her eyes narrowed briefly out the window, her elbow propped up on the table and chin cupped within the palm of her hand. _Maybe I should talk to my parents about this whole thing and just settle the debt of the broken statue before this goes any further. But how do I explain the whole Host Club and cross-dressing thing to them first?! They'll flip out for sure. _A frown crossed Kyo's face at her thoughts as she let her elbow slip out so that her long arm stretched out over the table top alongside her lunch, her forehead coming down to touch the cool surface of the polished table top. "Am I really stuck?"

"You don't look stuck to me Kyon-chan!" A rather cheerful and childish voice called out almost from right in front Kyo, causing the student to glance up with a rather tired and almost dark look flickering across the surface of her eyes. The massive grin of Hunny filled her view as the blonde third year had perched himself in the seat directly across from Kyo, while the towering Mori had taken up the seat just in between the two at the end of the table. "Neh?" Hunny chirped while his head tilted to the side.

Exhaling quietly in a sigh, Kyo sat up some, but her arm was still stretched out across the table. "I didn't mean in the physical sense Hunny-senpai." She replied while giving him a rather tired look as the small blonde swung his legs back and forth in his seat as if he were truly a small seven-year-old boy. _Hunny-senpai...he's so cute it should be a crime. _Kyo smiled through her tired look at Hunny before looking over at Mori, who seemed indifferent as always, and raised a curious brow in his direction. "You don't say much, do you Mori-senpai?" Kyo commented in question as she studied his placid demeanor and wondered what it was about him that attracted many of the girls in Ouran.

The dark haired boy looked over at Kyo with a blank look for the most part, his gaze unflinching as he stared at her. "Ah." He muttered in a monotone that caused Kyo's facial expression to fault into a bland look.

"Ah." Kyo muttered back in response while half glancing over at Hunny. "Still waters run deep I suppose." She commented in a nonchalant manner while laying her head back down on the table top and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Kyon-chan, are you alright?" Hunny asked with a look of concern spreading its way across his face as he leaned forward across the table to touch the younger student's forehead with his small hand. "You don't feel warm, you can't be running a fever. Do you feel sick? Do you need to see the nurse?"

As Kyo waved Hunny off in an assuring manner, Mori raised a brow briefly before leaning back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Mitsukuni, Kyo-san is only sleep deprived." He assured his diminutive cousin who looked overly worried for Kyo's well being. "Although, I believe she is alert enough for the rest of the day."

This comment caused both Hunny and Kyo to look up at Mori with questioning looks on their faces that matched one another before exchanging those looks with one another. "Alert enough for the rest of the day?" The recited in unison as they were growing more puzzled by what Mori had said. The two then shrugged at the same time as Kyo sat up all the way in her chair properly and started to poke at her food with the fork provided for her. She seemed disinterested in what she had asked for at the moment even though she began cutting through the tender substance of professionally broiled chicken smothered in a rather fresh zesty sauce.

Just as Kyo lifted the first piece of her lunch to her mouth, a loud crash from a few tables away caught not only her attention, but the attention of almost the whole cafeteria. Already students were up out of their chairs to see what had happened while some decided that they were too far to become involved and went back to their lunches and conversations. Kyo, Hunny, and Mori on the other hand, couldn't help but be dragged into what was going on as Kaoru ran up to their table out of breath and looking horribly troubled as he came straight to Kyo's side and grabbed her by the upper arm.

"Kyo-senpai! Hurry! It's Haruhi!" He gasped with a panicked look on his face that managed to be convincing enough to even get the two third years sitting her up out of their seats as well. As soon as Kyo was up out of her seat, Kaoru was dragging the tall girl dressed in a boy's uniform across the cafeteria as quickly as possible to where the loud crash had taken place.

_What could have happened to Haruhi-san? Wait a minute...Haruhi-san never eats lunch in the cafeteria...ever... and neither one of the twins calls me Senpai..._As Kyo started to come around to her own conclusion as to what this was all about, her eyes started to widen while she started to pull her arm out of Kaoru's grasp as she also took note of a rather subtle clue she hadn't seen first. In the last instant as they reached where Kaoru had wanted her to come to, Kyo yanked her arm out his hold and stepped back with her own momentum. "Hikaru." She whispered the boy's name as she watched him glance back over his shoulder with that all too familiar devilish gleam in his eye. _He changed the part in his hair so that way I would mistake him for Kaoru at first glance. They tricked me! They're setting me up for a prank! _

Her eyes glanced all around as fast as they could to see where Kaoru had hidden out at and what was coming her way. As her gaze shot towards the left, Kyo felt her whole body go numb at the sight of a whole table flipping up her way with sloshing bowls of soup and other varieties of liquid upon its now approaching face in an attempt to soak her from head to toe. However, Kyo's quick reflexes and senses allowed her to catch the coming trouble in time to jump backwards out of the way of what could only be explained as a tidal wave of mixed liquid crashed through where she had been. A confident and rather cocky smirk crossed her face but vanished as Kyo felt her footing hit something slippery on the ground in her next step, _Shit!_ Kyo started to turn in her fall looking for what she could possibly crash into and what she should avoid in an attempt to protect herself and those around her.

However, this attempt would be thwarted as she felt her body slam sideways into something rather solid, but had a certain type of give to it that was in a way soft. There was no way to save herself now, and Kyo tensed her whole body in preparation for the contact she was about to make with the ground, although, it never really came in the sense of body hitting the cold polished tiles of the cafeteria floor. After feeling her landing come with no physical amount of pain, Kyo tried to turn and see what had buffered her landing, only to come face to face with the dark eyes of someone very familiar staring back up at her in a somewhat nonchalant manner.

"M-Mori-senpai!" Kyo whispered hoarsely in surprise as she realized that he had been what she collided with in her fall, or so she thought for the moment. Her whole face was starting to feel incredibly warm as she took note of the fact that the manner in which she was currently situated in was rather...provocative and compromising as the mass crowd of female fans held their breaths with wide anticipating eyes. _Crap! This looks really bad! _Kyo could already feel the snickering stares of the Hitachiin twins bearing down on her as she sat almost straddled over the towering third year with her hands planted on the floor palm down on either side of his head.

Mori seemed almost unphased by the whole thing and continued to stare back up at Kyo who was growing even more embarrassed with each passing second. As Kyo started to make her move in a flustered attempt to scramble off Mori and stand, she was knocked from behind by an unaware passing student who was trying to avoid the soup flooded floor. The whole cafeteria seemed to go quiet in a dead silence sort of way, the female student body standing with dropped jaws and creeping beet red blushes at what was laid out before them in a glorious and beautiful example of "_Mo_". However, for the members of the Ouran Host Club that were present it was a different sort of expression for each individual. Tamaki stared with a dropped jaw, pale face, horrified expression, and lifeless eyes the size of saucers, while standing next to him was Kyoya who appeared to hold a slightly agitated look for a few reasons at the moment as he too stared.

Hunny blinked in complete surprise at how things had suddenly changed while behind him, the twins congratulated themselves on a job well done. Back on the floor, Kyo stared wide-eyed with stricken sense of fear and panic having frozen her in place for the moment in the new precarious position she was in – an accidental lip-lock with Morinozuka "Mori" Takashi. The knock from the passing student had sent Kyo back down into her original position over Mori, but as she had already taken her hands off the ground and was about to use them in her mad scramble to get back up on her feet, Kyo had no real initial means of catching herself as she was pushed off-balance. Her next fall had not been so easily avoided or stopped even as she tried to throw her hands out again, but another unseen and sneaky slippery spot did away with any sort of saving attempt. And now here she was, kissing Mori on the cafeteria floor without her own consent.

It had all happened within seconds, but it felt as though time was passing slowly for all involved, before Kyo pulled away quickly and scrambled backwards off Mori as fast as humanly possible which propelled her up against one of the massively sculpted columns sitting throughout the interior of the cafeteria. Holding herself up against the column, back first, Kyo stared back at Mori with wide eyes and panic stricken look on her face. Sitting up, Mori ran a hand through his short dark hair and glanced across at the literally petrified Sophomore. Once eye contact was established, Kyo turned an unbelievable shade of beet red as she blushed furiously. Every single female student in the cafeteria, _customers_ to the Host Club or not, held hearts in their eyes, crimson blushes across the tops of their cheeks, and were now near fainting with great delight to their wild fantasies having been made a reality at that very moment. The whole cafeteria was filled with the squeals and giggles of the fawning girls while Kyo's left hand shot up to cover her mouth while she continued to stare at Mori.

"Um, Kyo-san...?" Hunny approached the wide-eyed girl who looked like a deer trapped in the headlights of an oncoming car. Crouching down to her level, the small blonde tried to find something to say that would calm down her terrified state of being, only to find that it seemed as though the twins had succeeded in scoring another point in the prank war that had been going on since Kyo's first day as a part of the Host Club. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly while setting a hand on her shoulder as lightly as possible to avoid startling her. However, his touch only caused the terrified Kyo to shrink away while shooting him an even further wide-eyed look of embarrassment.

As Hunny tried to speak again, reprising the question he asked of her, Kyo pushed herself up to her feet, her gaze staring down at Hunny before shooting up to catch the stares of nearly everyone in the cafeteria before her own somehow landed on Mori as he too was standing up to his feet slowly. Their line of vision zeroed in on one another briefly, Kyo's whole face flushing once again while her whole arm this time came up in a protective manner across her face. Dusting himself off, Mori held Kyo's gaze for a moment and had taken note of how red she had become from the embarrassment having been set upon her at the hands of the Hitachiin twins. Taking a step forward, Mori managed to trigger the Kyo's final stage of panic, and only watched along with everyone else as Kyo almost vanished like a vapor in the wind leaving a stunned crowd in her wake to marvel at the inhuman speed she seemed to possess.

Sighing heavily in a sense of empathy towards the fleeing Kyo, Hunny looked over at his towering cousin and noticed the very bare pale pink blush that crept over the top of his cheeks as he stared after Kyo. Smiling at this, Hunny looked over at the others and took note of their expressions at the moment as well before shaking his head. _I better find Haru-chan first._


	9. Kyo's Long Day Part 2

_**Chapter Nine**_

_**Kyo's Long Day – Part Two**_

The door of the roof excess burst open hitting the wall behind it and almost bounced back to smack whoever it was that had suddenly exploded out onto the massive flat roof of the South Building. But somehow that painful piece of contact was avoided as a small brunette slipped by quickly. Standing out before the door as it closed on its own from the bounce, Fujioka Haruhi looked about the massive roof top in a rather flustered manner to spot a missing student that she was in search of. A sense of panic was circulating through her as she had yet to find her missing friend who had been utterly embarrassed about two hours ago in the cafeteria by the clever scheming of the Hitachiin twins. Haruhi herself had not been there to witness the whole event, but after she was found by Hunny, who recited what had occurred in her absence, Haruhi found herself racing through the whole academy to locate Uchiwa Kyo.

Somehow in the past two hours that had gone by, Haruhi had searched through every place that she could think that Kyo would hide out in not wanting to face anyone at all after what happened to her. And now, the roof top of the South Building was about to become the so to speak "last place she looked". However, the roof seemed to be completely empty and void of any student's presence, save for her own, and Haruhi was starting to feel a sense of defeat over take her until she took notice of the rather odd bubble shape in the shadow being cast over her from the roof access. Turning about quickly, Haruhi met the muted gaze of Kyo's violet colored eyes as she stared down at her from her seat on the lip of the access.

Sighing heavily in relief, Haruhi gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "There you are." She ran a hand through her short brown hair as she spoke and tried to appear in higher spirits than the depressed looking light haired redhead staring down from her seat above. "I've been looking for you, Kyo-san."

"I wonder why that would be." Kyo replied while feeling an awful and almost sickening sensation creep up on her at that moment. "Who told you?" She asked while scratching the back of her head and looked up into the powder blue sky spotted with large puffs of cotton white clouds.

Haruhi cringed slightly out of pure reaction to the question and then rubbed the back of her neck while looking up into the sky as well. "Hunny-senpai. He came to find me, and I'm assuming, right after what had happened in the cafeteria. He was worried about you." She explained while now looking for a way to join her friend up on the roof access as there really wasn't a normal way up other than climbing. However, she didn't have to really look for a way up as one was offered to her at the hand of Kyo herself. Taking it and planting her right foot against the white washed brick face of the access, Haruhi used the rather immense help of her friend to climb up the face of the access and stand atop it beside Kyo. Turning about, Haruhi looked out at the sprawling grounds of Ouran laid out below them. "Wow!" Haruhi exclaimed while holding a hand above her eyes to block out the sunlight from her vision.

Kyo nodded in agreement to this as she stared out at the campus grounds, arms resting atop her thighs as she leaned forward with a rather content look on her face for the most part. "Yeah. I found this place pretty quick on the first day after I slipped and fell into the courtyard water fountain. At my old school, I used to go up on the roof with my friends a lot. We'd eat lunch there and just watch everyone else down below. I can't remember any other time then that where I felt like a normal teenager."

Looking down in response to Kyo's small story, Haruhi held a curious look on her face as she took a seat beside her friend. "Normal?" She inquired, puzzled as to what Kyo had meant by this.

"When you're raised in a wealthy family upbringing, you're surrounded by things out of the ordinary and aren't in the sense normal to other families. I was privately tutored throughout a vast majority of my early childhood because my parents were afraid of what the other students would say to me or even do as far as bullying. They were almost overly protective of me to an extreme that nearly placed me in a confined mold of what my perception of the world outside what I knew was." Kyo replied while still staring out across the school grounds. "It was my grandparents that stepped in and urged my parents to let me experience the world outside wealth and luxury living. I think I was around twelve when that happened, because when the new school semester started, I was enrolled into Sarayashiki Junior High." A smirk pulled at the left corner of her mouth as she remembered the first day in a public school. "I made friends as fast as I made enemies that day, but even then, I realized something that not many of my "social status" ever will – that even though I come from a wealthy family, I'm just as terrified of growing up as anyone else my age is."

Haruhi stared at her with a deep studying gaze as she spoke and couldn't help but smile at the reminiscing smirk that flickered across her features. "You must have had a lot of fun with your friends to smile like that when thinking about them." Haruhi pointed out while poking her index finger again Kyo's shoulder. "What caused you to transfer to Ouran? I mean, I know you've said it was on your parents' part, but there had to be something, neh?" She asked while tilting her head to the side a bit.

Looking over at Haruhi with a rather even look on her own face, Kyo stared for a moment before exhaling quietly through her nose and looked down at their dangling feet. "The last week before graduation, my friend Makoto was cornered by some big time and well known bullies in the school and was jumped. Myself and a few others realized that Makoto was missing during lunch period and went looking for him." At this, Kyo's facial expression fell into a rather somber one as the bitter memory came to surface. "I was the one who found Makoto being beaten bloody by those bastards. They had him on the ground and he was bleeding from cuts on his face, his nose, and even his mouth. Seeing that, seeing my friend on the ground like that, something inside of me snapped and I had them all begging for their pathetic lives before they knew what hit them." Kyo explained while her eyes narrowed on her right foot as she spoke. "My parents thought it would be best that I was placed in a private academy during my high school years, to keep me "safe"."

The brown eyes of Haruhi had grown large as she listened to her friend recount the past years of junior high to her before coming to Ouran. She had always found herself in the dark concerning Kyo's history prior to this prestigious academy to the children of rich families, but now, little by little, light was being shed upon what made up Uchiwa Kyo. "I'm sorry, Kyo-san. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories you didn't want to reprise." Haruhi muttered quietly as she stared down at her lap.

"No, it's fine." Kyo assured while giving Haruhi what seemed like a forced smile while shrugging slightly. "You have to take the good with the bad to realize what exactly the good is and how to find it more easily next time."

"Kyo-san definitely knows how to look on the brighter side of things." Haruhi commented with a giggle. "Although, it'll probably take a lot of looking to find the brighter side of what happened today I suppose." She mused while setting her hands out behind her and leaned back to stare straight up into the sky.

"Not really." Kyo returned while setting her hands behind her head and laying back on the access, her violet colored eyes tracing the clouds wafting overhead in a lazy manner. "If I really had to look for the good in this whole situation I've found myself in, there are two things I managed to accomplish today whether I wanted to or not." She sighed aloud while closing her eyes.

This caused Haruhi to raise a brow while glancing down from the corner of her eye. "You feel like sharing those two accomplishments?" She asked with a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth as curiosity was starting to get the better of her at the moment.

A muffled grunt was emitted from the cinnamon haired girl laying out across the top of the roof access in the afternoon sun. "Normally, no." Kyo replied while pulling her legs up so that the heels of her feet rested against the very lip of the access. Her reply caught Haruhi off-guard and the brunette looked a bit taken back by it for a moment before watching Kyo crack open her right eye to look up at her and lightly punched her in the shoulder. "Hey! I bruise easily!" Kyo joked while rubbing her shoulder and curling up into the fetal position with her back to Haruhi, causing the smaller brunette to chuckle in response.

"If it's normally 'no', then does that mean you'll tell me, neh?" Haruhi poked her friend in between her shoulder blades with a finger and then peaked over her shoulder to spot the smile on Kyo's face at that moment. "Oh, I see a smile."

Kyo's smile continued to slip further across her face even as she kept her eyes closed and remained in her loose form of the fetal position. _Haruhi-kun...she can see right through me just like Ami did. Maybe I can get over what happened today...without killing those two devils. But still, how am I ever going to be able to face Mori-senpai without turning tail and running in embarrassment?_


	10. Kyo's Long Day Part 3

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**Kyo's Long Day – Part Three**_

"The two of you should be ashamed of your actions!" Tamaki snapped while stomping his foot down on the ground, hands on his hips and a very much irritated look on his face as he stared down the two redheaded devils sitting before him on the couch in the Third Music Room. "How could you do that to Kyo-san? I know there was an agreement on both sides to this 'prank war', but that was beyond any prank!" The tall blonde scowled, his irritation with the two boys growing even more as he watched their bored and unamused looks drift off into space. "Fine." He spoke in a rather smooth, and cool tone of voice while standing straight and tall, his arms coming to fold across his chest. A rather dignified and mature adult air now surrounding him. "If you want to continue acting like children, then you shall be treated as such. For the rest of the week the two of you will not be participating in any of our club activities, and you will be placed on cleaning duty at the end of each day."

"What?!" Hikaru sputtered while finally looking up at Tamaki, eyes holding an intense flame of annoyance to the creed of their 'lord'. "You can't do that!"

Kaoru looked just as equally pissed as his brother, but while Hikaru vented openly in response to the punishment to their prank, Kaoru fumed still over what had happened in the cafeteria with Kyo. They hadn't intended for Kyo to be embarrassed to the point in which she would actually turn tail and run like a frightened deer. They had merely wanted to point out the fact that she couldn't tell who was who and then 'punish' her for that mistake by of course soaking her in the soup of the day by means of a vertically flipped table. However, _There's no way we could have foreseen Mori-senpai getting involved by accident like that. Let alone the two of them accidentally kissing on the cafeteria floor. _As Kaoru replayed that whole scene over again in his mind, he felt the muscles in his jaw tighten suddenly while his hands curled into tight fists. _Why does that piss me off? _

Tamaki noted both of the brother's responses to this, and then shook his head in response to Hikaru's outburst. "I am the club president, and yes I can. The two of you went too far this time, and for all we know Kyo-san's feelings have been hurt deeply by your foolish acts." He stated while catching sight of Kyoya from the corner of his eye as the Vice President stepped purposely forward in order to catch Tamaki's attention. Glancing up over at the ornate clock hanging up on the wall off to his right near the double doors of the club room, Tamaki noted that his reprimanding of the twins was going to have to end on that note as they were only a few moments from opening their doors to the awaiting young ladies on the outside. "I have nothing further to say, and that's final. Now, we have guests awaiting our services as _hosts_." He stated calmly while running a hand through his hair and walked off with Kyoya to prepare the music room.

Hikaru growled within his throat angrily and then huffed loudly as he flopped backwards into the couch he sat on and crossed his arms like a stubborn child. Kaoru on the other hand merely propped his elbow up on the arm rest and then cupped his forehead within his hand, amber eyes almost glaring down at the floor as he stared for no particular reason. "It wasn't our fault that it happened." Hikaru muttered begrudgingly while still huffing in response to Tamaki's laying down the law on him and Kaoru.

"We had a hand in it, Hikaru." Kaoru snapped mutely while pinching the middle of his forehead with his hand. This earned him the disbelieving and heated stare of his brother that he noticed without even seeing it. In response, Kaoru shot his brother an annoyed of his own. "Don't look at me like that!" He snapped.

"Are you actually defending her again?!" Hikaru hissed as he noticed the doors opening at the hands of their first customers. "That's the second time Kaoru, that you spoke up about Paper Fan-senpai." His amber eyes narrowed almost dangerously on his brother, who matched it with his own, and sparks were starting to pop between their glares as they growled at one another.

While the twins continued to stare each other down in a rather vicious manner, the first of the days _customers_ were already walking into the Third Music Room, and were greeted by the other present members of the Host Club. Two of the girls that appeared were Asuka and Miura from the 1-A Class who had come with th specific request of having Haruhi and Kyo as their hosts for the afternoon. The girls were greeted by Tamaki who bowed deeply to them like a complete nobleman and gave them a welcoming smile. "Welcome, sweet Princesses."

Asuka giggled behind her hand in response to his charming manners. "Good afternoon, Suoh-senpai." She returned while then also curtsying alongside Miura. "How are you today Senpai?" She asked with a smile.

"Far off better than I ever have been, now that you're here Princess." Tamaki returned while offering her his left hand and Miura his right. "You requested the company of Haruhi-kun and Kyo-san today, didn't you?" He asked while leading them over to a prepared table holding a tear platter of delicate sweet cakes and an elegant tea seat perfuming the air with its crisp aroma.

"We did indeed." Miura replied this time, the look on her face falling a bit as she noticed that neither spoken of boy was to be seen at the moment. _Is Kyo-senpai not here today? _

Noticing the look on Miura's small face, Tamaki quickly switched into his most charming of modes – Assuring a Damsel in Distress. "Wonderful. I'm sure they will both be pleased to see you two young ladies when they get here." He stated with a warm smile as he seated them both about the designated table. "You will have to forgive them though. Haruhi-kun had to go track down our new rebel, seeing as how Kyo-san needed to get some air." Tamaki explained while sitting down with them, his smile still present as he spoke. _Haruhi, you're probably the only one who can get Kyo-san back here without a problem. I only hope that Hikaru and Kaoru didn't hurt Kyo-san with their behavior._

"I knew it!" Hikaru's voice suddenly sprung up above the conversations of the other parties about them. The taller of the twins was up on his feet and pointing an accusing finger at his seated brother who looked on the verge of jumping on Hikaru at any given moment. "You like Kyo-san, don't you?!" Hikaru snapped through gritted teeth as he glared at Kaoru.

Kaoru looked taken back by this accusation, but that look quickly faded as he sprang to his feet and glared at his brother. "I do not! You take that back, Hikaru!" He snapped back while clenching his hands into tight fists at his sides.

All eyes were on the shouting twins and the room had gone strangely quiet as the tension between the two brothers was building to a boiling point. Some of the girls in the room looked a bot worried in response to the sudden outburst of aggression that they had yet to ever see the twins exhibit before against anyone, let alone one another. Tamaki clenched his jaw into a tight vice as he slammed his hands down firmly upon the table top and stood up from his seat as he was going to put a stop to this, once and for all before the reputation of the Host Club was stained any further. Asuka and Miura stared up at the annoyed blonde who had been acting as a substitute _host_ to them until their real _hosts_ arrived. Both girls held nervous looks as they couldn't figure out whether or not this was an act for their entertainment, or if it was in fact an actual fight.

As the situation looked about to be on the bursting point, it was quickly dealt with as a cool and clam storm swept in to diffuse the ruckus before anyone started trading blows. Hikaru's extended arm was suddenly grabbed about the wrist with a firm slender grip that pulled him forward and almost off his feet. Stumbling forward in complete shock, Hikaru bumped into a solid and yet soft object, and was immediately ensnared about the waist by an equally strong arm that pulled him even closer. Looking up with wide eyes and a completely startled look, Hikaru was even further shocked to meet a pair of violet colored eyes staring down at him with a stern commanding gaze.

"Kyo-senpai." Miura murmured quietly as she watched the cinnamon haired second year hold Hikaru to him almost in the exact same manner he had always done to Kaoru in their displays of 'brotherly love'.

"You!" Hikaru stammered in a mix of shock and annoyance as he tried to start the push away from the cross-dressing _host. _However, Hikaru found it incredibly difficult to even move his arms as one of them was still within the grasp of Kyo at the moment. The Hitachiin twin had to blink a few times to force his vision to view Kyo as a female and not the male appearance she seemed to be exhibiting at that moment. _How in the hell did she become so damn convincing?! Wait...what?! Damn this woman! _"Let me go!" He demanded angrily while trying to pull his arm free.

This only prompted Kyo to move her face in closer to Hikaru's and keep up that very intense stare of hers. "First you need to calm down, Hikaru-kun." Kyo's tone of voice was deep and even had Tamaki and the others who knew her true gender identity fooled for the moment, and even confused.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Hikaru growled angrily as he was starting to grow increasingly uncomfortable with his situation against Kyo. She was holding him too close, and far too possessively for his liking needless to say. _What the hell is wrong with her? What's wrong with me?! My face feels hot...AM I BLUSHING?! _The answer to his own thoughts were of course the correct ones, as there was a very deep rose colored blush creeping across his face in response to having Kyo's face so close to him like this. Already he could feel his heart starting to race as her arm about him adjusted the way in which it held him close to her, causing the younger student to look away from her gaze.

Tamaki stared in disbelief and was both relieved and also shocked as he watched Kyo deal with the twins yet again in a manner that was about to set them straight. Staring with wide eyes, Tamaki was completely focused on Kyo and Hikaru, so much so that he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden appearance of Haruhi at his side. "Haruhi-kun?! When did you get here?!" Tamaki asked in strangled voice as he tried to calm his racing heart down to a normal pace.

"The same time as Kyo-senpai. I just slipped in behind him while everyone's attention was grabbed." Haruhi replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, arms crossing in a casual manner over her chest. "Sorry we didn't arrive sooner, but Kyo-senpai was feeling a bit down and didn't want to displease the young ladies who had requested his company today." She explained in an apology while giving both Asuka and Miura a friendly smile in a further apology to the late arrival.

"I said let me go!" Hikaru snapped one more time, only to have his chin grabbed by Kyo's hand that had freed his wrist from its grasp, and found that his face was now separated from Kyo's by a bare few millimeters of space between them. Kyo's steady breathing brushed out against the surface of Hikaru's cheek causing the redhead to blush furiously and swallow hard as it felt like his heart was up in his throat. Frozen stiff with panic, all Hikaru could do was watch with wide eyes as Kyo leaned in even further now, her cheek resting against his.

"I know what your prank was, and I also know what happened after I avoided it was not planned for on the part of you two, so it doesn't count. Our score stands at twelve to seven, and the two of you are still loosing." She murmured quietly into his ear, making it a point to let her lips feather against the bottom of his earlobe, and smirked at the feeling of Hikaru's body going completely rigid in response. "Besides, you know I like you the best, Hikaru-kun." Kyo pulled back just enough to look as though she were seriously about to kiss the first year student.

All the of the female _customers_ were holding their breath and either clutching their hands tightly or wringing them with anticipation to another display of "Mo" about to explode before them, except this time it was two out of the three in the "newly formed" Brotherly Trio...or so they had been dubbed. However, their hopes would be dashed as Hikaru tried his best to look away causing the corner of Kyo's mouth to pull with a smirk as she gently released him. Haruhi chuckled quietly to herself while taking a seat at the table with Asuka and Miura, her gaze flickering across the music room to watch both the mournful and yet satisfied sighs of the girls who had been captured by the whole scene and convinced that it had all been an act for their entertainment.

While Kyo had dealt with Hikaru, Kaoru watched with a dropped jaw. At the moment when Kyo had leaned in towards his brother in a near intimate fashion, Kaoru's stomach clench and twist in an unpleasant manner. The younger of the twins was slowly starting realize something that he had been nearly oblivious to until now, and when he caught what Kyo whispered to his brother, Kaoru felt his blood run cold and a bitter flame of jealousy swell up within him. _She's kidding, isn't she? Kyo-san is only teasing Hikaru to put him in his place, that's all...that's all..._Kaoru's gaze fell for a moment as he stared off to the left, trying to piece together what it was that had started to take over while his brother slumped down into a seat on the couch again as Kyo moved off to join up with Haruhi and the girls waiting for her. Looking over at his brother, Kaoru held a somewhat frustrated look on his face, his brow now wrinkling in response to the fact that Hikaru's face was still flushed and was rubbing the back of his neck in an embarrassed manner.

"Ah, Kyo-san, good to have you joining us." Tamaki greeted his friend in a cheerful manner while a look of complete gratitude was plastered across his face for her intervention at the last moment with the twins. "You were beginning to worry Asuka-hime and Miura-hime." He added in with a wink at both girls seated at the table. Bowing to them and nodding his head at Haruhi, Tamaki took his leave, pausing a moment at Kyo's side and set a hand on her shoulder. "I owe you one, Kyo-san." He murmured quietly to the tall girl nearly standing eye-level with him. A nod from the cinnamon haired Sophomore was all that Tamaki needed before moving off to entertain his own _customers_ who had been waiting patiently for him.

Sitting down at the table, Kyo pulled at the tie about her neck to loosen its grip as she felt nearly strangled now and almost exhausted as well. Exhaling heavily, Kyo propped an arm up on the back of her chair as she offered Asuka and Miura an apologetic smile. "I am terribly sorry ladies. My tardiness is inexcusable." She nodded her head to them as the complete gentleman that she was playing to be, although her apology was very much sincere. "I only hope you won't be too mad with me."

Asuka giggled behind her hand before picking up her teacup and taking a sip from the sweet steaming liquid inside its porcelain confines. "Do not worry about it, Kyo-senpai." She assured her _host_ while setting her teacup down upon its saucer and used the small ringlet of a handle to turn her cup to its proper setting.

"Asuka-san is too kind." Kyo returned while sitting forward and removed her arm from over the top of the chair so that she sat in a more 'proper' manner. Looking over at Haruhi with a smile, Kyo nodded at her. "You'll have to thank Haruhi-kun over here for getting me back on time. He knows my affinity for cloud watching when I need some air, and knew exactly where to find me." As Kyo spoke, Haruhi nodded in agreement to this while taking a drink from her own teacup.

"You watch clouds, Kyo-senpai?" Miura asked while holding a rather odd look to her face that looked like a mix of disbelief and something else that couldn't be placed by anyone who was paying attention.

Kyo glanced over at the quieter of the two girls with a curious look on her face in response to question asked of her. "Does that sound weird?" She asked while wondering to herself now about whether or not her past time was in fact weird at all. "Hmm, I guess it does sound a little weird for someone my age to be cloud watching." Kyo mused while looking up at the ceiling as she pondered this for a moment.

Miura started to blush a bit as she watched Kyo take on a rather childish look of frustration as _he_ continued to think further on this. "N-No, I don't think it's weird at all, Kyo-senpai." Miura stammered while tracing her finger along the lip of the teacup before her and stared down into the copper colored liquid inside. "It's just that...I've never really heard of anyone cloud watching for fun." She murmured.

Her response caused Kyo to loose her self frustrated look as she turned her gaze to the younger girl and grinned rather boyishly. "That's because not many have the patience to do it. When I watch the clouds, it gives me this sense of peace and calm while staring up at them thousands of miles above me." Kyo explained. "Just kind of reminds me that even though I come from a wealthy family and a comfortable living, I'll never be as free as those clouds are." She pointed out in a rather wise manner that even caught the ears of the other girls sitting nearby with Kyoya.

"What a load of crap!"

The booming echo of a Yakuza-accented voice filled the whole music room and immediately had everyone's attention glancing all about to locate where the profane exclamation had come from. Hunny held the fork he had been eating with between his teeth as he had been in the midst of eating a slice of strawberry cream cake, and looked about with a rather wide-eyed look while his towering cousin Mori merely glanced over towards the main doors of the room. Both twins were looking about in opposite directions to one another with arms crossed over their chests and confused looks on their faces as they couldn't quite understand what had been shouted in the first place. Tamaki glanced about as well, curious to know what this statement was about and happened to glance back over his shoulder at that moment, his gaze widening a bit as he stared at the main doors.

Soon the eyes of the whole room, minus of course Kyo's and Kyoya's, were on a group of four large looking teens dressed in public school uniforms wearing white cloth headbands about their brows with their uniform jackets unbuttoned halfway down and sleeves rolled up to their elbows. The one standing more at the front of the group had a large leather like gauntlet strapped about his right forearm with metal studs flowing down its face in three rows of five, and had rather unamused look on his square shaped face while his brow furrowed deeply causing the eyebrows to connect at the middle. Both _hosts_ and _customers_ stared with dropped jaws and confused looks before they began to murmur amongst one another as to how an unruly bunch of outsiders managed to get inside the gates of an academy like Ouran that had some the most top notch security that could almost rival that of government officials.

The gang of teens scanned the room, their dark eyes searching for someone in particular until the leader's passed over a cinnamon haired student off to his far left sitting at a table with two girls and another male student with brunette hair. Doing a double take, the leader suddenly sneered in a rather cocky manner before tilting his head up a bit. "Well, well, if it isn't the lazy shirker." He chuckled hoarsely before pointing at the mentioned student with his leather clad hand and arm. "Neh? UCHIWA KYO!"

As if on cue to this, all eyes snapped over to the cinnamon haired and violet eyed _host_ sitting with arms folded neatly across the lip of the table on his side, and head somewhat bowed as though staring into the teacup sitting before them. As both Asuka and Miura gasped and turned to stare at their beloved _host_, Haruhi held a troubled and worried look upon her face as she too stared at her friend. "Kyo-senpai?"

"Kyo-senpai, who are those men and how do they know your name?" Asuka asked in an urgent whisper from behind the cover of her hand.

As all questioning stares and murmured concerns burned down upon her, Kyo continued to stare into the copper colored liquid inside the teacup she had been using. Not once did she blink, and a small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as she noticed one tiny tea stalk floating straight up and down in the middle of the cup itself. _Must be my lucky day apparently._

"OI! UCHIWA!" The leader shouted, his tone showing a sense of strong will and unmoving confidence as he shrieked. "We've come to claim what belongs to our family's clan blood! Prepare yourself!" He announced with a sneer. His fellows chuckling to themselves as they switched into fighting stances, their eyes staring at Kyo with all intent to deliver harm.

Haruhi stood to her feet and slammed her hands down on the table, ready to scolded the teens who had appeared with such a unacceptable amount of rude manners. However, as Haruhi opened her mouth to begin shooting them down, Kyo spoke up suddenly in a quick and short manner. "No."

All four teens tripped over themselves in response to the rather blunt response given to them, but recovered quickly or at least their leader did first. The vein upon his right temple throbbed in response to the annoyance that she was causing him and his look of frustration was evident by the narrowed evil eyes and curled fist held up in gesture. "How dare you speak that way to us! Prepare yourself, Uchiwa-san!"

"Hell no." Kyo replied yet again, causing the gang to grow even more angrier by the second as she continued to stare into her teacup. She noted the look on Haruhi's face from the corner of her eye and exhaled heavily before pushing her chair back across the floor and then stood to her feet. The tips of her fingers touched gently against the surface of the lace cloth that covered the table in an elegant and crisp manner, her eyes focused on the standing tea stalk in her cup. Smirking to herself quietly again, Kyo blinked slowly before turning her gaze over at the gang who appeared to be surrounded by burning hellfire flames as their fists were clenched and their teeth barred. Kyo arched a brow at this. "The last time you guys came claiming to 'claim what belongs to your family's clan blood', I left you in a pile for the janitor to sweep up at the park."

The gang choked at the reminder, but their leader recovered quickly and stabbed a finger in her direction. "That may be so, but this time we will beat you! Now, PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A HUMILIATING BEATING AND A DEFEAT YOU WILL REMEMBER UNTIL THE END OF YOUR LIFE!" He shouted before vanishing like a vapor on the wind and reappeared before the table that Kyo was sitting at and threw a rather heavy punch with everything he had right at Kyo's face. His appearance caused everyone to gasp, while Asuka and Miura gave a startled cry while Haruhi called out for Kyo to watch out.

Hunny and Mori moved from their places to stop him before he reached Kyo, but they weren't expecting him to move like he did, and the cousins felt a sense of panic overtake them as the guy threw his punch at Kyo with such a confident smirk on his face. However, to everyone's surprise, Kyo caught the punch with her hand at what seemed like the last moment and held him in place with a powerful unmoving grip. The leader of the gang huffed at this as he had been expecting such a thing and went to pull his fist free only to find it not coming as he wanted it too. Raising a quick brow at this, the leader grimaced suddenly as he felt his hand being squeezed in what could only be described as a cold vice. _Shit, I need to get away from her now before..._The small sounds of popping started and a sharp pain shot through his arm as the bones in his fist sprung hairline fractures and were going to be on the verge of breaking within the next three seconds if he didn't act quickly.

Pushing off with his left foot, he swung his right up in a sideways quick aimed at Kyo's temple, and as he had hoped she dropped his fist and went to block the kick. With his fist released, the teen dropped his kick and tried this time for a left hook only to find empty space as he swung. Kyo had ducked and was now shooting up from a near crouched position with her left elbow aimed for the underside of his chin. Caught off-guard, the teen felt the blow connect and found himself being thrown back to where his guys stood in wait for their go-ahead. With their leader thrown back at them, the other three rushed forward to catch their leader in his fall. "Boss!" One of them cried out in worry as he grabbed a hold of his comrade's upper arm.

"Damn." The fallen teen muttered while wiping the back of his free arm over his struck jaw as the whole bone structure throbbed with a burning pain from the blow that Kyo had so quickly delivered without much effort. "I know Uchiwa-san is strong, but it's like there's been a big change since the last encounter." He stated while righting himself and took up a strong stance once again. "Yu. Genji. Ryuu. Get ready."

"Yes, Boss!" All three chorused their immediate response to his command and prepared themselves once again for a fight.

"Whatever." Kyo groaned under her breath while running a hand up through her bangs, holding her fingertips against her front hairline causing the longs bangs that framed her face to drape in a rather alluring manner, however her narrowed violet eyes gleamed with a very dangerous look that sent a chill through anyone else in the room that had seen that look. "You four are becoming a nuisance." She stated in a voice that was cold and very much unlike the friendly Kyo many had already come to be associated with. "Now, let's move this outside." Her hand dropped from its position and within the blink of an eye Kyo had two of the four in a headlock beneath either arm before tossing them out into the hallway.

As Genji and Ryuu were tossed out, Kyo used the momentum of her own action to follow, planting a foot in the middle of either of the boy's chest and pushed down as she vaulted up and out. The cinnamon haired Sophomore tucked herself through a forward flip and landed easily on the banister following the edge of the third floor of the South Building. Looking back over her shoulder, Kyo eyed both Yu and Boss as they appeared in the massive hallway next right behind her.

"Give it up Uchiwa-san! You're not gonna win this time!" Boss declared while throwing his finger out at her once again, causing Kyo to pull a sour and unamused look in response to his barking claims of unseen victory.

_You have got to be kidding me. Every time these guys show up, it's the same outcome._ Sighing as the last encounter that happened a year ago came to mind, Kyo looked off down the hall as if contemplating something a moment longer and then shrugged to herself before giving them both a very demon like glare. In an instant Kyo had vanished like a vapor in the air, and moved almost ten times faster than Boss, appearing like a bolt lightning behind them facing the gaping doors of the club room where every student inside had gotten out their seats to watch what was going on outside. Her left hand flexed in a slight twitch at her side and at that same moment both still standing boys hit their knees while coughing and holding their stomachs. "You were saying. Gokudo-kun?" She asked while crossing her arms over her chest and turned herself slightly to stand sideways towards them.

The one called Boss by his comrades, also known as Gokudo by Kyo, struggled to his feet and was barely able to keep himself standing as he turned to look at her. "I will never admit that you are the rightful Katana no Sarutobi Sasuke! Never!" He shouted while barely being able to point at her again. "That title doesn't belong to an Uchiwa!" Gokudo snapped.

"I never claimed that title! You were the one who started calling me that back in fourth grade you moron!" Kyo snapped back an faced him completely, the two now up in one another's face, the sparks of tension snapping between their line of vision as they growled at one another. "Stop following me around already, it's weird and creepy!"

"It's called surveillance!" Gokudo shot back, the vein throbbing in his temple yet again as he knew he and his friends had been defeated once more in a failed attempt to take the title they called her by.

"No, it's stalking! And it's illegal!" Kyo pulled back her right fist and then launched it forward, catching Gokudo square in the jaw on the other side, the power of her blow sending him backwards into the railing. Catching movement from the others as they stood to their feet now as well, Kyo shot them one of her pissed off cat-eared and tailed looks with an underlying growling hiss to send them even further warning.

Immediately all three remembered the warning and knew what it meant, loosing color in their faces they swallowed hard before scrambling quickly to snatch up their boss, bow in apology to Kyo and speed off like there was no tomorrow for them. Kyo watched with a sour look on her face and a bit of a disheveled appearance as her shoulders slumped forward and she exhaled heavily. _When is this day going to be over?_


	11. Kyo's Long Day Part 4

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_**Kyo's Long Day – Part Four**_

Exhaling softly through her mouth, Uchiwa Kyo flopped down backwards on to the large king sized bed and stared up at the ceiling high above her. It was no secret that Kyo's family was indeed one of the wealthiest in Japan, ranking right up there with the Ohtori and Suoh families, and the size of her family's main residence spoke quite clearly about this as did her own personal room. It was a large room, as big as any master suit in the finest hotels, and furnished to mirror the personality of Kyo quite well and had been recently changed a few years ago for a more simple and yet updated look. Her king sized bed had a very contemporary air to it with the bed frame a dark cherry wood and simple rectangular headboard holding an engraved symbol at its center resembling a paper fan. The rest of her furniture matched in its wood colors, while all linens and other cloths were a dark khaki and pale slate. Two large bay windows looked out from the wall to the right of her bed and stared down at the massive back gardens of the Uchiwa residence.

Everything about the outside of the home was just as luxurious and exquisite as what was on the inside. Hired hands kept the very pristine and ancient temple like grounds well kept and in neat order. The rock garden and koi ponds looked as though they would suck up back in time to that of the Meiji Era or even further. Bonsai trees, ancient cypress, and even forest pine interwove throughout the sprawling courtyards, giving what was a monolithic structure of a home, a very calm and tranquil feel that was welcoming to all. For even though the family was wealthy, could afford every possible luxury to man, they were still a very humble and hospitable family that was rooted deeply within tradition and sound morals.

Staring up at the high ceilings of her room, Kyo sighed as she rolled over on to her side and stared out the bay windows framed by heavy linen curtains. It was already eight in the evening, the sun had since set and the world was dark and dull save for the dim light provided by the celestial bodies high overhead. She could hear the chirp of the last late summer insects that were still holding on until the first real chill of autumn. Staring out the window, Kyo tried to ignore what happened earlier that day and just let it be water under the bridge like she had done with a lot of other things in her life. However, the fact that she had been embarrassed to the point of turning tail and running for the second time in her young adult life, and that she had gotten her first kiss without her willing consent, just wasn't really sitting well with her at this point. Frowning, Kyo made a mental note that her next prank on the Hitachiin boys was going to one that would live in infamy. Or at least end this "war" in her favor.

'Go-sen mairu hashitte iki o kirashite

Adorenarin hyaku rittoru gotai subete furu kadou

Koko made kureba ii darou? Doko made ga OK?'

The small snippet of a song verse accompanied by the music background, murmured on the nightstand facing Kyo's back on the other side of the bed while the LCD screen of the cellphone's Caller ID glowed with an artificial yellowish light. Rolling back over and reaching out to grab her personalized cellphone as she recognized the designated ring tone belonging to a friend of hers' outside of Ouran Academy. Picking the phone up, Kyo flipped it open and held the small hand held device to her ear. "Hello."

"_Ah! Kyo-chan! You're still awake then! Or, wait, did I wake you up?!" _The frazzled voice of a girl the same age as Kyo asked across the line.

Kyo chuckled quietly while sitting up to slouch forward on the foot of her bed and dangled her left arm across her lap. "No, I was awake. Besides, it's only 8:30 and, it's a Friday." She pointed out while grinning to herself in response to her friend's tone of unnecessary worry.

"_Oh good, then you're not busy at the moment?" _

"No, I'm not busy Ami-chan." She replied with a laugh. "What's up?"

"_Oneechan says that it's been long enough to let your hair recover and that she can go ahead and restore it's real color whenever you're ready. I thought that maybe you could come over tonight if you wanted, since it's not a school night and all."_ Ami explained while holding a hint of hope in her tone of voice.

Huffing quietly through her nose, Kyo rubbed the back of her neck as she couldn't help but smile in a disheveled manner. "I'm not going to walk out of your house with purple hair, am I?" She asked while looking over at her bedroom door that stood ajar allowing the light from the hall in like a wedge shaped shaft. The squealing laugh from Ami's end of the line caused Kyo to wince momentarily and hold the phone away from her ear as she started talking a mile a minute. "Ami-chan...A...Ami-chan, hey!"

"_So you're coming then?! Tonight?"_

"Yes, I'll be over. Give me about twenty minutes." Kyo assured her friend who replied quickly with the promise of having snacks ready when she got there. "Okay, okay. See you in a little bit then." Flipping her phone closed, Kyo shook her head. Standing up from her place on the foot of her bed, Kyo looked out the large windows of her room for a moment before shoving her phone into the pocket of her jeans and grabbed a zipper front jacket from her walk-in-closet that looked like a whole other room itself, and then left her bedroom closing the door behind her.

Skipping down the stairs leading down from the third floor of her family's home where her room was located in the west wing, Kyo landed on the second floor and came face to face with the head maid her parents had hired years before Kyo was ever born. The slat and pepper haired woman was in her mid seventies and was well respected by each of the hired hands as their overseer, and held a special place in the Uchiwa family ranks as Kyo's former nanny and god-mother. As the two made eye contact, Kyo bowed respectively to the aged woman who smiled in a rather affectionate manner at her and shook her head at the same time. "Good evening, Kyo-sama." She greeted while tapping the young adult on the top of her head as she righted herself. "Why do I get the feeling that you're headed out for the evening?"

Chuckling in a sheepishly, Kyo scratched the back of her head while grinning at her. "Good evening, Rangiku-bachan." She greeted. "Yeah, Ami-chan just called me. Her sister's going to restore my hair color." _I hope._

Rangiku raised a thin grey brow in response to god-daughter's statement in answer to her question. Giving her an amused look that was almost teasing, Rangiku exhaled heavily in a dramatic manner. "I only hope you don't come back with purple hair this time." She pointed out while crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll call down for a car to take you over to Ami-san's home." Rangiku stated while walking over to a highly polished black phone sitting upon a rather ornate space table pushed up against the wall. "Will you be needing the car to stay with you, Kyo-sama?" She asked, her slightly wrinkled hands picking the phone up and pressing the number three button upon the stationary cradle face.

"No. Hana-senpai will bring me back." Kyo replied while pulling her jacket on and text-messaging Ami who had just sent one asking if she wanted anything particular for their snack binge. "It will be a few hours before I come home." She added in while casting a quick glance over at her god-mother who was speaking into the phone, more than likely directly to the chauffeur who would be driving her to Ami's house.

Setting the phone back down in the cradle, Rangiku nodded in a rather stiff manner. "And what exactly _is_ a few hours?" She asked while slowly looking back over her shoulder at her young charge that she treated like her own child. The rather scary look in her eyes caused Kyo to flinch in response and take on a defensive pose immediately in response. Seeing this, Rangiku smiled warmly as she turned to face Kyo and held her hands before her lap. "Very good. Please have a safe trip, and try not to do anything to radical to your hair."

Nodding cautiously, Kyo took off down the stairs as quickly as possible to avoid being glared at any further by her god-mother. Stepping out the front door, Kyo was greeted by the driver who had pulled around the simplest and least extravagant of the Uchiwa family's cars in order not to cause a commotion in Ami's neighborhood when they arrived. The ride lasted only twenty minutes, and before Kyo could even reach out to press the doorbell, the door to the "average" home burst open with an almost explosive amount of force after which following in a well planned cue, Kyo was then tackled to the ground by a much smaller body.

"Kyo-chan is here! Kyo-chan! Kyo-chan! I missed you so much!" A young jovial voice cried out while arms were wrapped about the girl's neck in a vice-like grasp and the small cheek of a young child rubbed up against the much more defined one of the older teen. "Hey, hey, Kyo-chan, did you miss me?!"

"The way you greet me, no. But yes, I did miss you Momiji-kun." Kyo replied in a dazed manner as she was sure her eyes were spiraling and seeing stars after being so quickly tackled as she had been.

The young boy hanging about her neck grinned broadly while pulling back for a moment and stared her straight in the eyes with his own big bright chocolate colored orbs. "Ami said you were going to be busy for the first couple of months at your new school, but it's been almost three since then! Why haven't you come over to visit?! What's Ouran like?! Do you have any new friends?! Are you still playing soccer?! Is there anyone faster than you there?! Are you popular?! Do you have a boyfriend yet?!" He rattled off the questions as Mach 5, not once giving Kyo the chance to break in an even attempt an answer to each one, let alone give her a moment to catch her breath that had been knocked out from his moment of spontaneous violent affection for the older girl.

"Momiji, please get off Kyo-chan." A another voice spoke up from the wide open doorway of the home. Standing there with the fingertips of her right hand pressed against her forehead and an unamused look on her face was the older sibling, Hana. She currently had her usually dark brown hair now sporting chestnut and berry colored streaks through it, pulled up at the back of her head in a rather messy twist clipped in place by a large beret. "She needs to breath in order to answer your insane questions. If she even heard any of them that is." Hana stated while stepping out of the house to grab her young brother by the back collar of his shirt and yank him straight off Kyo. Holding him up like some small puppy, she nodded back towards the open home. "Go tell Ami that Kyo-chan is here. And do not yell it through the house!" She instructed before setting him down on his feet.

Nodding vigorously, Momiji was gone in a flash running to the back of the home and vanished up a flight of stairs to fetch his second sister. Shaking her head, Hana offered out a hand to the downed Kyo who had managed to at least get the world to stop spiraling about her. Taking the offered hand, Kyo stood to her feet and managed to keep her sense of balance at the same time. "Thanks." She muttered while trying to take a few steps forward. "I feel like I just got off a carnival ride." Kyo commented while staggering into the home of her friend.

"Sorry about that Kyo-chan. When he heard you were coming over, he kept his attention fixed on the approach of any car pulling up to the gate. He was dead set on being the first one to greet you." Hana explained while guiding Kyo through the front door and then closed it behind them. "Even though he's seventeen now, Momiji still acts like a complete child whenever you're around. Kids' got a deep thing for you, you know that right?" Hana asked while leading the way further into the house.

"Yeah, I know." Kyo stated while rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know why though." She sighed and immediately squinted as Hana flipped the light on in the small salon-styled room she had brought Kyo to. It took only a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, and Kyo was looking around the familiar room once again and grinning quietly to herself at the memories being pulled up in response.

Hana set a hand on Kyo's shoulder and winked at her. "You ready to have a normal hair color again?" She asked with a teasing smile as she ruffled the short cinnamon hair atop Kyo's head.

Kyo snorted a short laugh to which Hana chuckled at and then lightly smacked the back of Kyo's head as she walked off to start preparing the necessary mixes needed for Kyo's hair. Shooting Hana's back a glare, Kyo rubbed the back of her head for a moment before an excited cry erupted behind her, causing the light haired redhead to look back over her shoulder even though she knew exactly who it was.

"Kyo-chan! You're here!" Ami squealed while jumping up and down as she clapped her hands and then ran forward to give her friend a huge hug. "I haven't seen you in so long!" She cried as Kyo returned the gesture with her own hug, and then pulled back from her friend to hold her out at arm's length and look her over. "Did you get taller?" Ami questioned as she noted there was in fact a rather sharp change in the way they stood to one another.

"A few inches, yeah." Kyo replied while giving her friend a sheepish grin as she spoke. "I'm about 5'10" now I guess." She assumed, the last time she had her height taken was on the first day at Ouran and they declared her to be 5'8" then. However, Kyo had noticed over the span of almost three months that she now seemingly stood at eye-level with Kyoya who she knew for sure stood at around 5'10". Shrugging, Kyo tried to change the subject as quickly as possible. "So, how's the new high school been so far?"

Exhaling a heavy sigh, Ami released her friend from her grasp and crossed her arms casually over her chest. "It's fine I guess. Everyone from our junior high class is there, and most of them are in my 2-B class. Makoto-kun's been made the Vice President of the Drama Club already, and Sakura-chan is as busy as ever with soccer. Speaking of which," Ami raised a brow with a grin, "Does Ouran have a soccer team?"

"Yeah, I think they do. I just never looked into it though." Kyo replied while looking off towards Hana's direction as she heard water running. "Even if they did, I don't think I would play with the athletes there anyways." She explained after catching the rather disappointed look on Ami's face. "I don't see a challenge or even the fun in playing with people equal with my talent as myself. I liked playing with my old team anyways."

"Kyo-chan, you're such a wimp." Ami giggled while sitting down in the empty chair seated before a large lighted mirror. "You should at least try it out if not for the reminder of how much you enjoyed playing. Besides, if you're not playing soccer, what are you doing in your spare time at Ouran anyways?" She asked, a brow raising to emphasize her curious nature.

Kyo choked in response to the question, her face twisting into a near horrified look. _I can't tell Ami that I've been going around Ouran dressed as a male student and participating in something like the Host Club! Crap! What the hell am I gonna tell her?!_ "Um, well, you see...I've been..." She trailed off as she was coming around to a dead end and was unable to come up with a really good lie at that point.

"Oi, Kyo-chan, it's ready when you are." Hana called back over her shoulder while using her head to gesture for Kyo to come over to the sink where a chair was set up in front of the large basin.

Ami chuckled while giving her older sister a Cheshire smirk. "Be careful Kyo-chan, Hana-neechan might turn your hair into another weird color." She laughed in a hissing manner, only to find that her older sister's aim was very accurate as a wooden hairbrush popped her right in the side of the head. Toppling out of her chair with a stuttered cry, Ami hit the ground and then shot back up looking as though she had come straight out of hell with eyes blazing an agitated scowl on her face. "What the hell was that for?!" She snarled while holding up her hands in a clawed manner.

"You keep your face in that position for too long and it'll be permanent." Hana pointed out in a very cool and nonchalant manner that was meant to cut her sister's fiery temper down, and succeeded as Ami turned away in a pouting manner and crossed her arms. Smirking at this, Hana waved Kyo over. "Come on, let's get this done and over with so I can make amends for having turned you into a walking spice color."

She couldn't help but give a small muted laugh from behind her lips as she walked over and sat down in the chair. A large vinyl cape was draped down about her shoulders and back, secured with a clip, and Hana began the process of restoring Kyo's natural hair color. Ami jumped up on the counter opposite from where her friend sat and watched for a moment as the cream colored paste was applied to sections of Kyo's hair in a meticulous and precise manner in order to assure that every strand of hair was covered throughly.

"So, you never did answer my question." Ami pointed out after a few minutes of complete silence in the small salon room. "Are you doing anything at Ouran, as far as a club activity at all?" She asked.

Looking up at her friend from beneath those long bangs of hers', Kyo studied the look on Ami's face, taking note of just how genuinely worried she appeared for her best interest. "It's a little complicated." Kyo replied while sighing

**Thirty minutes later...**

"WHAT?!" Ami lurched forward off the counter and grabbed her friend by the front of her collar and started shaking her. "How could this have happened to you?! I knew you wouldn't be okay at that effing school! Oneechan, we need to get her out of there!" Ami shouted in a panicked manner while looking her older sister with a pleading and frantic look on her face.

Hana had her back to her younger sister and was currently peeling the latex gloves off her hands that had kept the restoration cream from getting on her delicate skin. "There's no need to shout Ami." Hana stated while tossing the used gloves into the trash and then opened the cupboard above her head to look for something else that she needed. "Besides, Kyo-chan seems to be okay for the most part with it. Neh, Kyo-chan?" Hana asked while rummaging through her products.

Kyo looked over at the older of the three siblings she had known for nearly three years and nodded to her last sentence. "Yeah."

"Yeah?! YEAH?! How can you say something like that Kyo-chan?! Oh this horrible!" Ami moaned while letting go of Kyo's collar and sunk to the ground and sat in a cross-legged position while sulking at the fact that her best friend was being taken for face value at some high and might rich kid's school for a boy. "Kyo-chan looks nothing like a boy at all." She muttered while trying to find a way in which someone would in fact mistake her friend for a guy.

"So this Suoh Tamaki, he's a friend of yours then?" Hana asked while closing the cupboard doors and turning back around to them. A nod from Kyo was all she really needed, and once the young teen had done so, Hana smiled a bit. "I guess it would make sense. The Suoh family is one of the wealthiest in Japan. But the fact that you acknowledge him as a friend and not a mere acquaintance, says a lot too." She pointed out, and couldn't help but grin at how funny Kyo looked at the moment with her short hair spiking up the back of her head coated in white while the long bangs were swept back over the top of her head. _Kid looks like Sonic the Hedgehog_. Hana chuckled quietly to her mental comment and then crossed back over to the sink. "Better not let Momiji hear about it though. He'll flip out far worse than Ami just did."

"How can you be so calm Oneechan?!" Ami snapped suddenly while shooting her sister a condemning glare. "Didn't you hear what Kyo-chan told us about what happened just today? She was humiliated in front of a cafeteria full of students, and now they're probably thinking that she as a _guy_ is into that Mori-senpai!" She pointed out, her tone rising in further irritation to what her friend had gone through thus far since attending Ouran Academy.

Hana shook her head in response the brash and loud behavior her young sister was exhibiting at the moment. "Ami, seriously, lower your level. And I'm being calm because I don't see Kyo-chan blowing up over it or stressing. If she appeared to be in that condition than I would worry and more than likely try to convince her to get out of the Host Club quickly, even if it meant going to her parents for help." Hana explained as she twisted the cap off a special shampoo and set both items down on the counter attached to the sink basin itself. "But since Kyo-chan is keeping a level head over all this, there's no need to stress out over the situation in an unnecessary manner."

Staring up at the tall woman who was the oldest out of three at the age of twenty-two, Kyo couldn't help but be in awe of her calm and cool demeanor. _Hana-san knows how to diffuse a situation and slap someone into place just by talking. _"Hana-san is right, Ami." Kyo stated while looking over at her still rather troubled friend. "I'm not too worried about it. Something else could happen in the next couple of days that will take everyone's attention off what happened at lunch today, and it will be forgotten." She waved her hand in further emphasis to this while letting Hana push her back in the chair and start washing her hair out with warm water.

Sighing in defeat, Ami watched her sister wash Kyo's hair out and couldn't help but perk up at the sight of the cinnamon color fading away to give way for a much darker black color to show through. _It's been a while since I saw Kyo with her original hair color. I thought for sure Hana-neechan had messed her hair up to the point it wouldn't come back to color at all. _The corner of her mouth pulled as she remembered that day all too well, and shook her head. "At least this time Kyo won't be chasing us around the neighborhood like a bat out of hell and swearing to shave our heads." Ami chuckled while propping an elbow up on her knee and leaned her chin into the palm of her hand.

Kyo laughed as she was reminded of that incident almost six months ago. "Or you're going to hope at least." She teased between her laughter while relaxing in the warm sensation of the water and Hana's massaging fingers.

Hana smirked slightly while she continued to wash in the shampoo and rinse at the same time. The cinnamon stain of the former ghost color was draining down the sink and watched for a moment as her fingers played with the now black hair of her sister's friend. "Look good. A few more minutes and you'll be your old looking self again, well save for those violet eyes of yours." Hana mused while running the rest of the shampoo out Kyo's hair.

"Yeah, what's with that eye color anyways Kyo-chan?" Ami asked as she had first noted the violet color of Kyo's eyes upon seeing her. "Feel like blending them in with your hair?" She chuckled.

"No, that's not it. And it wasn't because I felt like rebelling either." Kyo replied. "Remember when I got hit in the side of the head by a baseball in middle school, and I had to wear glasses for the last couple of weeks in school because my vision was all weirded out?" A small grunt from both sisters urged Kyo to keep going. "I wore the glasses up until I entered into Ouran in my second year year, but I wanted to try and leave them behind for the first day. My parents agreed to take me in for contacts, and I asked the doctor for brown colored ones to try and either hide or tone down my eye color. But when I but them on, I had purple eyes due to the fact that my original eye color is just far too intense and mixed the brown like that." Kyo explained while sighing at the end of her little story. "My eyes are feeling a little itchy now that you mention them." Kyo blinked while trying not to rub at her eyes at the moment.

"I still have a pair of your glasses in my room if you want to take them out." Ami suggested while perking up at the same time as she was suddenly reminded of the fact that they had been left behind during Kyo's last visit to the house. A raised thumbs up from Kyo was the answer, and Ami got up from her seat on the ground and ran off to her room to fetch the glasses and a small glass for Kyo to put her contacts in.

By the time that Ami returned with Kyo's glasses and a glass filled with water, Hana was already towel drying Kyo's hair and grabbing for the hair dryer. Giving her a moment to slip the colored contacts off her eyes, Hana then proceeded to blow dry her now dark hair until it was only slightly damp and then ran a small amount of styling cream through the hair on the back of her head to cause the shorter layers to stick up in a up swept manner and then ran another small amount of the same styling cream through the long bangs to give them a more defined look. Ami handed her blurry eyed friend the glasses she had gone off to fetch for her and stared in a dumbstruck manner alongside her older sister as Kyo looked up at them.

"Wow. You look like...you!" Ami commented while taking in the sight of the restored black color of Kyo's hair and grinned before speaking up again. "I forgot how blue your eyes are." She giggled while trying to stare like someone watching some exotic animal in a zoo cage.

Kyo blinked a few times, waiting for her vision to adjust through the lenses of her glasses and then adjusted the way the wire rims sat on her face. "How could you forget? You have like a dozen pictures of us from school and outings we took with everyone else." Kyo teased while running a hand through her hair, pushing some of the short layers on the top backwards and giving them a very bird tail-look.

For a moment, both Hana and Ami stared in awe at Kyo's change of appearance and forgot for a few seconds that she was a girl as her look had changed so much. Shaking her head, Hana smirked with a knowing look as she could see now why it was that people at Ouran could mistake Kyo for a guy. "Well, you definitely look like yourself now Kyo-chan." She pointed out while chuckling to herself.

"Oi, oneechan! You guys done messing with Kyo-chan's hair yet?" Momiji called out as he peeked in from the other side of the door, a lazy and somewhat annoyed look on his face. However, his look changed rather abruptly as he laid eyes upon the "returned" Kyo. Momiji's jaw dropped and a rose tinted blush appeared across his face rather quickly as Kyo's blue-eyed gaze met his as she looked over at him in response to his appearance in the doorway of the salon room. "K-Kyo-chan, you look...amazing." He nearly whispered while feeling the heat rise up through his face.

Kyo laughed sheepishly while pulling the plastic cape off from about her neck and slipped down out of the chair she had been sitting in for nearly an hour now. Before she could even touch foot on the ground itself, Kyo was snatched up in Momiji's grasp and spun about as the older boy erupted with complete childlike excitement over her change in appearance. Hana merely shook her head and sighed as she started to clean things up around the sink and counters. Ceasing the rapid spin he had been going through with Kyo trapped in his arms, Momiji sighed in a content manner as he nuzzled up against her cheek as if she were a puppy. Holding a rather unamused look on her face in response, Kyo looked over at Ami for help only to find that she was too busy rolling around on the floor laughing.

'Miageta Yozora no Hoshi-tachi no hikari,

Miageta Yozora no Hoshi-tachi no hikari

Hitotsu Futatsu kane no ne wa hibiku

Kokoro no naka de hidoki fukaku

Monogatari no you na ishi ga shizuku'

Momiji paused in mid-sentence at the sound of a ring tone softly chirping somewhere close by. In fact it was coming from right beside him. "Hey, I know that song." Momiji mused while looking down at Kyo, who was currently fishing out her cellphone from her jean pocket and checking the flashing Caller ID. Glancing down at the LCD screen, Momiji smiled as he read the name. "Ah, Tamaki-san is calling you...WHO'S TAMAKI-SAN?!" Momiji cried out while snatching the cellphone out of Kyo's hands and stared at it with a feral malice as if he were going to burn the guy calling _his_ Kyo.

"A friend of mine from school." Kyo replied while swiping her phone back from the irritated and nearly growling Momiji. Flipping the phone open, and looking slightly puzzled as to why Tamaki was calling her, Kyo answered the call. "Tamaki-san?"

"_KYO-SAN, IT"S BAD!!!!!"_ Tamaki shouted over the line in a panicked manner, which caused Kyo to hold the phone away from her ear and cause both Ami and Hana to hold curious looks after hearing the loud out cry from Kyo's phone.

Wincing, Kyo waited until Tamaki had finished his outburst and then put the phone back to her ear carefully. "Tamaki-san please calm down." Kyo instructed the tall blonde on the other end of the line. "Now, what's bad?"

"_It's Antoinette! I can't find her!" _Tamaki explained quickly, his panic growing even further as he spoke with Kyo.

"Antoinette? Your dog?" Kyo asked while raising a brow and noting the panic in his voice. "Are you sure she isn't just running around your home? I mean you do live in a mansion. She could just have been missed during your search." She pointed while trying to assure the still panicking and stressed out boy on the other end of the conversation.

"_I had the hired hands searching for during the past three hours! She's not anywhere in the house or anywhere on the grounds! Kyo-san, will you help me find her?! Please?!" _Tamaki pleaded and sounded almost on the verge of tears.

Hearing the strain in his voice, Kyo felt a small pang of sympathy hit her and she caved immediately. "Yeah, yeah. Where are you right now?" She asked, while slowly starting to move the phone from her ear as she knew he was going to explode with his usual excitement near comparable to that of Momiji's affection for her when she was around. Thinking a step ahead of her male friend, Kyo was saved from having an eardrum possibly blown out as Tamaki gave a joyful cry that everyone else in the room heard. As Tamaki quickly told Kyo where he was and where to meet him, Kyo assured him she would be there in the next five minutes and then hung up. Sighing quietly as she pocketed her phone, Kyo looked over at Ami who had inclined a brow in response to what she had heard. "You wanna come help me find a lost dog?"

**Exactly five minutes later...**

Kyo was the first to get out of the car, cellphone in one hand and a flashlight in the other as it had grown considerably late and only the streetlights were going to be available to the small search party at this hour. She didn't even have to look around to spot the blonde she had come to join up with, as she was snatched up from her left and lifted up off her feet and spun about for the second time that night by an overly affectionate boy she was friends with. Although, Tamaki would be the only one out of the two who would call her pet names in French.

"Kyo-san, mon ami! Bravo! You came, you came!" Tamaki cheered as he set her back on on earth and held her out at arm's length. "I'm so happy! Now we'll find Antoinette for sure! Neh, Hunny-senpai? Mori-senpai?" Tamaki looked back over his shoulder at the two senior students whom he had also gotten to come out and help him find his dog.

"Kyon-chan came!" Hunny smiled broadly while running up to the tall girl, but stopped just before her with a curious look on his face. "Kyon-chan, you look different." He mused while walking about her and took in the way that she looked even under the sickly yellow light of the streetlight. "What'd you do to your hair?"

Looking down at Hunny briefly, Tamaki blinked as he looked back to Kyo and stared at her in a silently and continued to blink in a rather stupid manner as he tried to see what it was that Hunny was talking about. It only took a moment before Tamaki pointed at Kyo with a dropped jaw and gave a surprised cry. "Kyo-san, your hair! It's black! And you're wearing glasses like Kyoya!" Spotting her glasses, Tamaki leaned in a bit closer to examine something else about her and nearly gawked at her eye color. "What happened to your eyes? I thought they were violet, and now they're blue. A really amazing blue."

"Yeah, well, um, it's a long story." Kyo replied while scratching the back of her head while giving him a sheepish grin.

"So, this is the Suoh Tamaki you were telling us about." Ami mused as she and her siblings joined them all on the sidewalk. Glancing over at the other blonde who was the shortest out of everyone there and the towering dark haired boy who had yet to say a single word since they arrived. _I guess the blonde is Hunny-senpai and the one towering over all of us is Mori-senpai. So he's the one Kyo accidentally kissed today in the cafeteria. Well, I don't think she could have asked for anyone more hotter than him to accidentally kiss...well...that Tamaki ain't too bad looking either. _Slapping herself mentally, Ami grinned at Kyo who was adjusting her glasses after being swung around by Tamaki. "Are you going to introduce us?"

Kyo laughed nervously as she looked back over the smirking Ami who was joined by her older sister Hana and her glaring older brother Momiji who seemed rather agitated by the fact that Tamaki still had his hands on Kyo. "Yes, well, guys these are my fellow classmates and friends and Ouran – Suoh Tamaki-san, Haninozuka Mitsukuni-senpai, and Morinozuka Takashi-senpai." Kyo introduced the boys first, each of them either bowing or nodding at Kyo's friends from middle school with a friendly smile. "And this is Uzuki Hana-san, Uzuki Momiji-kun, and Uzuki Ami-chan."

Tamaki grinned at them all in his usual friendly manner. "Good evening everyone. I thank you all for coming out with Kyo-san, I really appreciate it deeply." He stated while coming around to bow to all three of them in a respective manner as he truly appreciated their help in searching for his lost dog.

Ami giggled behind her hand in response to his words while Hana merely grinned but held a rather blush tint across her face. Momiji on the other hand still held an unamused look on his face but nodded at Tamaki anyways. Kyo scratched the back of her head and looked about at her group of both new and old friends gathered about her. "Well, I suppose we should split up into a few groups to track down Antoinette." She mused while looking over at Tamaki who was now already fawning over Ami and Hana like the complete gentleman that he was. _Tamaki-san..._Kyo exhaled in a defeated manner while trying to remind herself that he was just being himself. "So, how should we split up?"

"Three groups." Hana spoke up immediately, and being the oldest of the bunch took charge immediately. "The best way to go about this is to at least have one of the four of you in each of the groups since you know what Tamaki-kun's dog looks like. So, how about Tamaki-san, Kyo-chan, and -"

"Me." Momiji stated aloud quickly while grabbing Kyo about the shoulders from behind and pulled her close to him in a rather protective manner. The look on his face was enough to even dare his older sister to challenge what he had said, and even caused Tamaki to shrink away from him slightly in the attempt to keep a sufficient amount space between him and the rather scary Momiji.

Hana sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fine. Then the other two groups will be myself and Takashi-kun, while Ami and Mitsukuni-kun will be the final group." Hana stated while glancing over at her sister and the two other boys, who nodded in agreement to the arrangement of the three groups. "Okay then, let's find Tamaki-san's dog, shall we?"


	12. Kyo's Long Day Part 5

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_**The Search For Antoinette and the End to a VERY Long Day**_

There was a sense of tension hoarding over the only three-man search party walking the streets in search of a missing dog named Antoinette. They walked side by side; Momiji in the middle with Tamaki on his left while he had Kyo tucked closely at his right, his arms crossed over his chest while keeping an eye on the tall blonde and somewhat of an eye out for the missing dog described to him as a golden retriever. Kyo sighed quietly to herself while looking about the dark street, using the flashlight to illuminate the areas their eyes wouldn't be able to see into. _Momiji-kun is acting overly protective against Tamaki-san. _Glancing over at her blonde friend from the Host Club, Kyo couldn't help but grin slightly at the panicked mother hen-like worry he was expressing and flashing his own flashlight all about trying to locate his dog. _Poor guy, he's really worried about Antoinette._

"Don't worry Tamaki-san. We'll find Antoinette." Kyo assured her worrying friend and fellow _host_, and immediately received a rather sharp look from the corner of Momiji's eye.

Hearing Kyo's reassurance, Tamaki perked up immediately and looked over at her with a broad smile and hopeful look. "Really?" He asked while slipping out from behind Momiji's guard and snatched Kyo up in a massive embrace. "Kyo-san you're a ray of hope in this stressful time! I'm so glad you came out to help me with Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai!" Tamaki grinned. "Bravo, mon ami!"

Chuckling in a nervous manner, Kyo could feel a bead of sweat sliding down her right temple as she could also feel the rather annoyed glare from Momiji bearing down them both. _Hoo boy._ "You're welcome Tamaki-san, but could you put me down so that way we can continue looking for Antoinette?" She asked while trying to avoid the glare of her old school friend's older brother. After being set down on her feet again, Kyo rubbed the back of her neck while giving the blonde a friendly look as he continued to grin down at her.

Looking between the two, Momiji felt his brow twitch in response to the rather friendly atmosphere that they were exhibiting towards one another. Clearing his throat to get their attention, Momiji gave them both a somewhat melancholy stare. "If we're looking for Suoh-san's dog, we should probably head towards the nearest park from here." He suggested while coming up to stand right next to Kyo, arms crossed as he was trying to prove a point to Tamaki and warn him at the same time.

Kyo's blue eyes narrowed behind her slim wire rim glasses as she looked up at Momiji. The older teen flinched slightly beneath her gaze in response and then gave a muffled irritated huff before taking the lead down the sidewalk. Looking over at Tamaki with a shrug, Kyo gestured with an incline of her head for him to start walking along with her after Momiji. Falling into step beside her like an eager child finding a game in following after an older sibling, and looked down at her with a rather curious look on his face. "Neh, neh, Kyo-san. How do you know Momiji-san and his sisters?"

"I used to go to school with his younger sister Ami-chan back in middle school. She's one of my best friends." Kyo explained while looking forward at Momiji's back as he walked ahead of them. "And in case you're wondering, I attended a public school during my middle school years before coming to Ouran." She added in while glancing up at Tamaki in time to catch his dropped jaw of complete shock in response to her statement. "You look more surprised than Haruhi-kun did." Kyo mused while grinning a bit at the look on his face.

"Haruhi-kun already knew about this?!" Tamaki cried out in disbelief while still gawking at the thought of someone like Uchiwa Kyo, a young woman from a very wealthy family known throughout the entire country of Japan, had attended a public school. _Then that means...KYO-SAN'S FRIENDS ARE 'COMMENERS'! AMAZING!_ "Kyo-san's absolutely amazing! But you still haven't explained why your hair is black, your eyes are blue, and that you're wearing glasses." His tone voice changed from being awe struck to a now rather curious tone as he reached out and touched a wayward strand of Kyo's dark hair.

Smirking in response to his pointed statement, Kyo swatted his hand away in a friendly manner. "I was born with black hair and blue eyes. My hair color got warped when I volunteered to be a test project for Hana-neechan when she was studying still to be a hairdresser. The dye job flopped when she tried to give me a chestnut shade after I requested that specific color in the first place. After my hair turned that light spice color, I chased her and Ami-chan around the neighborhood for nearly an hour with a hairbrush in hand." Kyo explained while recalling that day almost vividly. "Hana-san said I needed to wait for my hair to recover from the process before she could try restoring its natural color. Within that amount of time, I graduated from middle school, was tutored at home for my first year in high school in preparation for Ouran Academy, and then I started Ouran." She ran off the time-line in a rather nonchalant manner. "The thing about my eyes...I got hit in the side of my head during gym one day with a pop fly baseball. My vision was messed up and I was given a pair of glasses until it straightened itself out. The reason you never saw my glasses is because I managed to get my parents to agree to me wearing contacts. And colored ones at that."

Tamaki stared at Kyo with a rather wide-eyed look as he listened to her spill a rather large amount of personal background information to him. Somehow he had the feeling that maybe she had already spoken with Haruhi about the same thing, _But then again, Kyo-san has become rather close with Haruhi-kun. I guess their girl talk would wander all over the place be a bit more open with what they say. But still! Kyo-san is opening up to me without hesitation!_ "Wow. But why would you want to hide your eye color though?"

"Yeah, that, well...Because I didn't want hear any more questions about why my eyes are blue." Kyo replied in a low murmur as she looked away from Tamaki. "It's kind of complicated, and I haven't even really told Haruhi-kun why either, if that's what you're wondering." She assured him while looking off to her right as she heard something across the street from them. "I took my contacts out at Ami-chan's because my were starting to itch. She happened to still have a pair of my glasses there from the last time I had visited, and, ta-dah!" Kyo pointed at her face to emphasize her last explanation to him.

Nodding to this, Tamaki grinned at her. "I wish you would have taken the contacts off sooner! Your eyes are amazing Kyo-san!" His compliment, completely genuine in his gesture as a friend and honest to his own truth. "You should stop wearing your colored contacts." Tamaki stated.

"I don't want to walk around Ouran looking like Kyoya-san's double." Kyo replied while giving him a rather unamused look as she started to picture that image in her head now. Walking through the gates of Ouran and immediately being mistaken for Kyoya because of her glasses and the fawning over of the girls who would start pairing her up as Kyoya's "twin". _No way! I am not going to be dragged into a 'brotherly love' scenario! _Groaning at the mere thought, Kyo hung her head while her shoulders slumped forward. Tamaki chuckled in a sympathetic manner as he patted her on the shoulder.

**Elsewhere...**

"Uh...Haninozuka-san...shouldn't we be looking for Suoh-san's dog?" Ami asked as he watched the diminutive blonde roll about with a bunch of kittens and the mother cat they had come across in the search for Antoinette.

Hunny giggled aloud as the kittens climbed all over him mewing as they rubbed up against his cheeks and neck. "It tickles! It tickles!" He cried aloud while grinning from ear to ear on the sidewalk.

Ami exhaled loudly in a defeated sigh as she hung her head. A bead of sweat slid its way down her left temple as she contemplated how in the world they were going to make in progress in finding Tamaki's dog with a kitten roadblock delaying their further advancement down the street.

**...Elsewhere**

Hana stared ahead, flashlight set so that way they could see where it was they were walking to, and never once had see glanced up at the towering teen walking alongside her in complete silence. _He's a rather quiet one. _She mused to herself while thinking upon what Kyo had told both her and Ami earlier that night. _I wonder if he was even embarrassed at all when it happened, or if he just shrugged it off? _"Neh, Takashi-kun." Hana spoke up finally since separating from the others in search of Tamaki's dog. "What happened today in the cafeteria at your school, with Kyo-chan. Were you embarrassed as well?" She asked, gaze staying straight ahead of them and her facial expression rather blank as a clean slate.

"Maybe not as much as Kyo-kun was." Mori replied in his usual monotone manner, his own look almost identical to that of Hana's as he too stared straight ahead. "Is Kyo-kun alright?"

Raising a brow, and breaking her blank expression for the first time, Hana glanced over at Mori. "Why do you ask?" She inquired, as she was rather curious at the question.

"She didn't say anything at school." He replied, his facial expression and stare not changing at all. "I was worried about her, since she left school as soon as it let out." Mori caught the rather surprised look on Hana's face from the very corner of his eye and for a brief moment, broke his own usual straight forward sense of attention.

"That's Kyo for you." Hana stated while shaking her head with a small grin on her face. "I've known that girl for the passed three years, and she has yet to actually face a problem like any normal person would. Or at least respond to it in a noticeable manner." Hana explained while grinning a bit more. Now it was Mori's turn to raise a brow and find somewhat of a curious look on his usually placid features, causing Hana to further explain what she meant. "For as long as I've known her, I have never seen Kyo-chan face her problems or any problem head on. She's always somehow found a way to sneak up behind it and stab it in the back. Generally speaking, she's not a coward, but she is unsure of her own ability to fix something."

Mori nodded to this as he listened to what Hana was telling him, and what she wasn't telling him. "Kyo-kun doesn't come off that way." He mused, while looking forward to continue the search of Tamaki's dog. _Then again. I've only been around her during club activities versus the nine hours of school that Tamaki-kun and Kyoya-kun spend with her on a daily basis. _

Hana paused in mid-step and then pointed ahead of them with her free hand, causing Mori to pause as well and look down at her first before looking to where she was pointing. "Is that her?"

**Around the corner...**

"Hey! Is that her?" Kyo asked aloud, alerting her two search-party companions at the same time as she stepped ahead of them and pointed straight ahead to where the light colored four-legged form of a canine could be spotted just a bit further out from the corner of the sidewalk they were on.

Tamaki bolted to Kyo's side and squinted through the unlit night to see if it was in fact his beloved dog Antoinette that they had finally come across. Straining to see whether or not it was her, Tamaki's eyes were given an extra aid as Kyo held the flashlight up and pointed to illuminate the golden retriever sniffing around the lamp post just ahead. "Ah! That's her! ANTOINETTE!" He cried out, sounding like a small child who had just located a favorite toy they had misplaced and fussed over for the past four to six hours. "Kyo-san it's her! It's her!" Tamaki continued to cry out while jumping around in celebration of finding his lost dog.

Momiji grunted while looking over at Kyo with an unamused look on his face in response to Tamaki's exuberance. "Can we go home now?" He asked while the hackles on the back of his neck raised yet again as Tamaki grabbed Kyo in a hug and then ran off towards his dog who was barking happily underneath the streetlight after spotting her master. Receiving a rather condemning look from Kyo in response, Momiji winced slightly before shoving his hands in his pockets and then proceeded to pout.

Kyo watched him for a moment before slowly smiling at his child-like actions as they reminded her of someone else she knew. "Momiji-kun, you're jealous. Aren't you." She pointed out more than asked while still holding a rather faint smile upon her lips as she looked at him. Her comment caught the older boy off-guard and he took on a rather flustered appearance in response as he tried to wave her off without giving himself away. Laughing quietly behind her lips, Kyo just shook her head while looking off towards Tamaki who had reached his dog finally and had been tackled to the ground by the golden retriever name Antoinette. "Come on, let's go get him off the ground, and go home." She added while changing a quick glance at her friend's older brother, who lit up immediately at the suggestion.

Both took off at a slow run to catch up to Tamaki, and finished in a walk as they approached him and Antoinette. Tamaki was laughing beneath the flurry of dog kisses that he was being showered with, but somehow managed to look up at Kyo and Momiji as they stood over him with both a highly amused look from his school friend and a rather sour one from the boy beside her. "Kyo-san, she's okay!" He sputtered between his fits of laughter while Antoinette barked at this statement as if to confirm it on her end.

"Yeah I can see that." Kyo grinned while crouching down and scratching the dog behind her left ear. "But I think you had better get up off the ground before you tear your clothes or catch a cold." Kyo pointed out while looking down at Tamaki with her grin. "Neh?"

Still laughing, but in a much more clammed manner, Tamaki agreed to this with a nod and tried to push Antoinette off himself, only to find that the his beloved pet was actually a lot heavier than she looked. Seeing that this was going to take a while unless someone stepped in to help, Kyo stood back up and went around to grab Antoinette by the back of her collar and pull her off Tamaki. Taking hold of the red leather collar studded with clear stones that Kyo assumed to possibly be diamonds or some sort of expensive crystal, she pulled the dog backwards a bit off Tamaki. However, as Tamaki slipped out from underneath Antoinette and stood with the begrudging help of Momiji, the retriever suddenly lurched forward catching Kyo off-guard. The sudden snap of her body being taken forward triggered a flashback to what happened in the cafeteria in Kyo's mind.In a rather instinctive response to saving herself from another humiliating situation, Kyo forced herself to swing backwards and try to maintain her balance the best she could.

Unfortunately for Kyo though, her footing had been on the lip of the street curb and no such balance was to come as the teen now felt herself hurtling backwards, thanks to her own actions. Falling backwards, Kyo relaxed her body while still anticipating the fall and stuck her right hand out while twisting her body to the right in an attempt to keep herself somewhat bruise free at this point. The slapping sound of her palm making contact with the asphalt echoed, but Kyo never caught it as she planted her weight down on her hand and then used the last bit of her falling momentum and catapulted herself into a springboard back flip. Landing in the middle of the street on her right foot and left knee, Kyo winced as a small amount of pain throbbed through her wrist and knee. However, she had managed to save herself from a rather painful fall and sat in the middle of the street staring back at the two gawking boys who had watched the whole thing with dropped jaws.

"I nearly had a heart attack." Momiji muttered while setting a hand to his forehead as a headache began to suddenly plague him at that moment. "That girl is going to be the death of me."

"She is a ninja." Tamaki whispered aloud while his faithful dog sat at his side with her head tilted in a curious stare.

Exhaling a breath in relief, Kyo stood to her feet and began to dust herself off while inspecting the cuts on the palm of her hand. They were small scratches that were a bit tender to the touch, but other than that she had little be worried about..._**HHHOOOOOOONNNNKKKKK!!!!!!**_

All eyes were up and over towards Kyo's right as the sound of squealing tires and a blaring car horn broke the rather peaceful night silence that had been present in the neighborhood. The headlights of a speeding sports car caught Kyo in the middle of the street and had the girl frozen where she stood, as she stared back with wide eyes and a rather pale look upon her face. Seeing the car bearing down on their spot, Momiji looked over quickly to see where Kyo had moved off to, but as his gaze fell upon the rooted girl, he felt his heart race with panic as his face drew into a terrified look of its own.

"KYO-CHAN! MOVE!" Momiji shouted while also waving in gesture for her to react quickly as he had seen her do so many times before.

Tamaki looked at Momiji after hearing him shout, and then his terrified wide-eyed gaze came across the still Kyo in the middle of the street, and he too could now feel his heart pounding against the front of his rib cage as panic over took him. "KYO-SAN!"

As the headlights rushed up on her, Kyo closed her eyes in response and cringed. _Why can't I move?! _The blaring of the car's horn drowned out the shouts from her friends, and in the next second she felt a heavy amount of weight impact with her body in a slam that took her off her feet, and yet...there wasn't any pain. For a moment, everything was quiet and still. There was a sense of warmth all around her, and Kyo lazily opened her eyes to meet with a blank color of dark before her. _I must be dead. But if I'm dead...why do I hear people shouting curses? Oh crap! I'm in...! _Kyo's eyes shot wide in response to her own conclusions in time to feel herself land in a buffered manner. "What?"

"Are you okay?" A deep monotone voice asked, a hint of concern tethering on the very edge, causing Kyo to look up and meet with a dark-eyed gaze of her apparent rescuer.

"Geez, that was close!" Hana wheezed as she ran up to stand beside her brother and Tamaki, both of whom were now clinging to one another with pale faces and wither drawn eyes as nearly half their life span had been sucked out of them watching Kyo nearly become one with the road. Exhaling in an exasperated manner, Hana shook her head while glancing over to where Kyo had been lifted off to by the hands and quick reflexes of Mori. "And I thought only Kyo-chan was that fast." She muttered in a musing manner as she watched Mori stand to his feet and set Kyo down from the position she had been in his arms when he grabbed her.

Setting the rather wind blown and frazzled looking Kyo back down on her feet, Mori looked her over just to be sure she hadn't been obviously hurt during the whole ordeal. "Kyo-kun, are you okay?" He asked again, while setting his hands on her shoulders, causing her to look up at him with a rather blank but blinking stare.

"Y-Yeah, I think so." She replied while scratching the back of her head. "I just froze..." Kyo trailed off in mid-sentence as she looked passed Mori to the road she had just been standing in about thirty seconds ago.

"Your hand." Mori almost sounded as though he were musing, but his face conveyed a rather serious nature as he took hold of her right wrist and hand gently and turned it so that the palm faced up. Looking over the scratches that left tiny red lines across the surface, Mori's brow furrowed slightly in response.

Kyo's attention returned to Mori after he took hold of the accused appendage and realized that the tiny injuries she had received earlier from saving her hide the first time were now a moment of concern for the Senior. "Oh, those, they're not from this. I fell into the street before you showed up and I scratched my hand. Other than having been scared silly, I'm fine. Really." Kyo assured him while trying to slip her hand out from his grasp, only to find that Mori wasn't about to let go so easily. Seeing his hand tighten a bit about her own in response, Kyo looked up at him again with a slightly confused look on her face. "Mori-senpai?"

"You didn't answer my question." Mori replied while he kept his gaze down upon her hand. "I asked you if you were okay."

A somewhat puzzled look cut its way across Kyo's face for a brief few seconds before it dawned on her what he had meant, and immediately her cheeks flushed a rather bright shade of rose. "Oh that...yeah, I'm fine. It was an accident to begin with. Hikaru and Kaoru weren't exactly planning on _that _to happen like it did." She muttered while looking off to her left in an attempt to hide the embarrassed look that was starting to take over her appearance. "Are you okay?" Kyo asked, while not even daring to look him in the eye at that moment.

Mori watched her for a moment, and noted the rather red hue staining her face as she spoke. "I am. It's not every day that you get a kiss from a pretty girl." He replied with a rather uncharacteristic smile as his head tilted just a bit to the side.

Kyo's whole face went completely red as her gaze shot up to stare at him in response to what he had said, and a rather shocked/taken back look crossed her own face in response to seeing Mori actually smiling at her after saying something like that. "Uh?!"

"Takashi is tired."

The sudden interruption of Hunny's voice had Kyo nearly jumping out of her skin in response before she looked down at the small blonde who was looking up at his towering cousin. "Hunny-senpai! How long have you been standing there?!" She asked, her expression paled and wide-eyed.

Hunny looked over at Kyo, who stood a good deal taller than himself but shorter than his cousin, and grinned at her. "Long enough." He replied while giving an assuring wink that he wasn't going to pick at anything or tease her. "You do look a little pale, Kyon-chan." Hunny pointed out while waving her down to his level, and once Kyo was at his level somewhat, Hunny held a hand up to the side of his face to hide what he was about to say. "What Takashi said and him smiling weirded you out a bit, neh? Well, when Takashi gets tired, he becomes a lot more open and friendly, so to speak. But he means everything he says."

"So then..." Kyo trailed off in mid sentence while chancing a glance up at Mori, who smiled right back at her even still. Looking away quickly with still a rather stricken look and a beet red face, at which Hunny couldn't help be smile at in response. "Let's just go home." Kyo stated while rubbing the back of her neck in a furious manner as she tried to keep her embarrassed look hidden from view.

Nodding in agreement, Hunny reached up and grabbed his cousin by the arm and tugged. "Takashi, let's go home!" He chirped in his usual manner before shimming his way up to his cousin's shoulders to his usual perch.

Mori nodded in response to this while falling into step beside Kyo, still holding a rather friendly smile on his face as they made their way back over to where Hana and Ami were trying to snap the still out of body experience Tamaki and Momiji. Seeing the pale faced and zombiefied boys sitting on the curb in a slumped manner, Kyo exhaled heavily in a near sigh of relief. _At least this day is finally over._


	13. Viva la Renge!

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

_**Viva La Renge!**_

"I'm not dressing up in that." Kyo stated in a rather dry and unamused tone as she stared at the outfit being held up before her at the hands of the dark haired Ohtori Kyoya, who had a rather unsettling smile on his face at the moment. The now dark haired and blue-eyed Uchiwa Kyo was seated at one of the small classical whitewashed tables with Hunny sitting across from her munching on a piece of strawberry cheesecake and swinging his legs back and forth in a rather content manner.

Kyoya tilted his head sideways, the smile still present upon his face even in response to Kyo's statement of rejection to the articles of clothing he held in his hands. "Really?" He asked while raising a brow, his dark eyes glinting with a rather underhanded threat that was aimed directly at Kyo and met with her own rather intimidating stare in response. "Kyo-san, did you forget that you are a member of this club now in a way to repay the debt of eighty-eight thousand yen?" Kyoya inquired while looking somewhat impressed that she even dared to challenge him at this point.

Kyo made a rather sour face at the reminder of her debt and grunted in response before looking away and out the massive windows staring forward into the courtyard below. _Bastard_. "What's the point in dressing up for a holiday that's an overseas event, anyways?" She muttered while still feeling rather annoyed by Kyoya's manner of persuasion.

It was Hunny's turn to speak up and enter the conversation, of course after finishing off the last crumb of his cake before doing so. "I'm for it!" He exclaimed in his usual child-like manner while setting his fork down and throwing his hands up in the air above his head. The ever present grin on his face as he spoke.

"Of course you would." Kyo retorted, her tone almost sarcastic while still retaining her friendly attitude towards Hunny, as like anyone else, she could never really bring herself to say something mean or act rude towards him. _He's so cute it should be a crime. _Kyo exhaled heavily while sitting back in her chair, her arms stretching out before her so that the surface of her palms rested upon the smooth wood of the table. "Fine. I'll wear the costume." She conceded to defeat as it seemed that Hunny had decided to join Kyoya's side in this small argument. "But I will not enjoy it!" Kyo huffed while swinging an arm back over the top of her chair and looked over at Kyoya with a very dark stare.

Smiling at her still, Kyoya nodded while setting the costume down on the nearby runner table that had been moved in a new rearrangement of the music room earlier during club hours. "Tomorrow will be the Halloween themed event we will be providing for our _customers_." Kyoya explained while sitting down at the table with Kyo and Hunny, his hands folding neatly atop his knee. "There are quite a few requests for you Kyo-san. You'll be busy until the end of the day from the looks of it." He mused while glancing over at the now dark haired girl who merely waved him off before picking up the cup of tea sitting before her and taking a drink from the murky green liquid.

"Kyon-chan is even more popular now that she has her black hair and blue eyes back!" Hunny commented as he helped himself to yet another slice of cake. "How much longer will you be needing to wear your glasses, Kyon-chan?" He asked while raising a brow towards the wire rimmed specks still perched upon Kyo's face since the search for Antoinette almost a month ago.

Closing her eyes for a moment and sighing, Kyo looked down at her tea and noticed a single stalk floating upright within the middle of the cup. "Ah, must be my lucky day." She mused while setting the teacup down, her gaze catching the rather curious look on Hunny's face as she looked up. "See?" Kyo pushed her teacup forward towards the short blonde who eagerly leaned over the table to see what it was that she was talking about. "A tea stalk floating upright in the middles of your cup is supposed to be good luck." She explained with a small smile on her lips. "So apparently, I won't have to wear these glasses much longer, Hunny-senpai."

"Ah, that's good." Hunny grinned as he chomped down on the first bite of cake his fork had cut. "Kyon-chan looks pretty with her glasses, but I beat she's even prettier without them." He commented as he chewed the sugary treat in a savory manner.

Kyo blinked a few times as she stared at Hunny with a rather surprised look on her face. "Eh?"

Kyoya chuckled quietly to himself while adjusting his own glasses as he glanced over towards the opening door of the music room with a raised brow. The other members of the Host Club had departed after their last _customer_ left; Haruhi had run off to the store to fetch some more of the instant coffee that Tamaki had acquired a taste for, Mori was requested for a few moments at the Kendo Club's practice session, the Hitachiin brothers had just up and disappeared with now specific reason, and Tamaki had tried to follow after Haruhi only to be reprimanded by the slender brunette and had since retreated to a corner of the room to sulk in her absence. Taking note to the fact that Tamaki was still in his corner sulking with a little cloud of doom hovering over his head, Kyoya was a tad curious as to who it was coming through the door at that moment. _Haruhi? Mori-senpai? The twins? _

However, neither of those assumptions were accurate as the room suddenly seemed to drop in temperature in a drastic manner, causing not only Kyoya to shiver slightly in response, but also Kyo, Hunny, and even managed to snap Tamaki out of his gloom corner and send him scurrying quickly to Kyo's side of the table and literally cling to her side with a pale face. Kyo blinked dumbly as she noticed also a change in the lighting and couldn't help but feel incredibly confused at the sight of fog rolling in from what seemed like every corner of the room itself. The boys seemed rather accustomed to the entrance, Tamaki's terrified reaction aside, and this only further caused Kyo's confusion to grow as she looked down at the clinging blonde with a raised brow.

Looking over at Kyoya, Kyo's brow ceased while her brows scrunched together. "I don't get it."

"You don't need to. It'll be explained in about three seconds." Kyoya stated while looking away from the door and crossing his left leg over his right in a casual manner. "And yes, Tamaki is using you as a shield." He added in at the sight of Kyo's mouth opening to ask a question he perceived to be about the reason in which the 'king' of the Host Club was shaking like a mariachi rattle at her side.

Unable to even begin understanding what was going on, Kyo glanced over at the door yet again to find a pale yellow colored cat puppet with a rather scary appearance to it peeking in through the gap between the doors. Her brows rose in a sense of curiosity to this sight as this was something she hadn't seen before in the past five months since she had been attending Ouran Academy. The cat puppet bowed once before its owner appeared behind it. His appearance in a black hooded robe with only the lower half of his face actually showing out from underneath the hood and shadow, caused Kyo to choke on whatever words she was thinking of and jerking backwards in her chair all in response to this person she had never seen before.

"Did I hear something about, Halloween?" The robed figure asked in a rather low and almost scary voice, a grin spreading out across his face.

Tamaki immediately stiffened in response the tone of voice and coward even further into Kyo's side, causing her to look down at him with a wince on her face. "Tamaki-san, that hurts." She commented towards his grasp on her directly, but ended up just shaking her head at the sight of his pale face and terrified expression as he didn't even dare to peek out from around her to see who it was at the door. _Who the hell is this guy anyways? And why is Tamaki-san so frightened of him? He does seem kind of creepy..._ Kyo glanced back towards the guy within the doorway and had a slightly annoyed look on her face now. "How could you hear anything we were talking about when you were on the other side of that door?" Kyo asked.

"Ah, you must be Uchiwa-kun from 2-A." The robed figure mused while almost gliding into the music room. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nekozawa Mutsuhito, president of the Black Magic Club." He introduced himself while bowing as well, even th cat puppet on his hand bowing again towards Kyo. "And this is Beelzenef. He was the one who actually heard you talking about Halloween, and then told me."

Kyo's face faulted into flat look in response to what sounded like a rather ludicrous answer to her question, and was about state this but was quickly cut off by Hunny who slid a plate holding a slice of angel food cake with strawberries over to her side of the table rather quickly. "Neh, neh! Kyon-chan! Try this you'll like it!" He stated in a rather hurried manner as he held a fork out to her.

For a moment, Kyo just stared at Hunny and then looked down at the plate of dessert in front of her with rather big shinny eyes as the blonde Senior was well aware of her fondness for this particular dish. Snatching the fork from Hunny's hand, Kyo started in on the dessert with a rather satisfied and distracted smile on her face as she took the first bite. Exhaling a sigh of relief and giving Kyoya an assuring grin, Hunny returned to his own dessert plate and left Kyoya to deal with Nekozawa.

"Indeed you did hear us talking about the upcoming holiday, Nekozawa-senpai." Kyoya replied simply. "I assume that your club will be holding activities on that day?" He asked in a rather nonchalant manner as if making conversation with Nekozawa.

"Of course. Halloween is a very special holiday for those of us in the Black Magic Club." Nekozawa stated while still grinning in a manner that was rather scary so to speak. "But what is this that you and the rest of the Host Club are planning, neh, Kyoya-kun?"

Kyoya chuckled quietly beneath his lips while shaking his head. "Nothing more than the usual, aside from themed costumes and room decorations of course." Kyoya replied while running his fingers through the front of his bangs. "I don't think what we have planned will interfere with what the Black Magic Club will be doing." He assured in the most professional manner.

Nekozawa chuckled while his Beelzenef twitched in a few forward bows. "Indeed." He grinned and then bowed. "Until next time."

And with that, Nekozawa glided back out the gap in the doorway, the fog receded and the light in the room returned to normal. Kyo looked around the room as things "returned to normal" and scratched the back of her head with a curious look. "How did he do that?" She asked aloud to no one in particular.

"Nekozawa-senpai is a rather, unique person we've all come to interact with at one point or another throughout the school year." Kyoya explained while turning back around in his seat to face Kyo, and to glance down at the still cowering Tamaki who had clutched to her side like a frightened child at the start. "Tamaki, he's gone."

In an instant Tamaki popped up from his place at Kyo's side a assumed a rather confident look to his appearance as he held his own chin within the grasp of his fingers as they curled about the tip. "Yes, well, Nekozawa-senpai is someone you should be careful around Kyo." Tamaki stated while casting a quick glance at the door just to make sure the creepy student didn't drift in suddenly.

However, his statement caused Kyo to raise a curious brow at him, but in response to the whole sentence. "What did you just say?" Kyo asked.

Looking down at her with his own puzzled expression, Tamaki tried to understand what it was she meant by the question imposed upon him. "About Nekozawa-senpai? To be careful around him, because you could have a curse of misfortune placed upon you by even looking at his Beelzenef wrong." Tamaki explained while shuddering at his own reminder of the time he accidentally stepped on the cat puppet.

"No, not that. You called me Kyo." Kyo pointed out while using her fork to also point at Tamaki in gesture. "You never call me by just my name. You've always called me Kyo-san." She commented with a raised brow almost blank look on her face.

Recalling his previous statement, Tamaki suddenly laughed while scratching the back of his head. "I guess I did, didn't I?" He chuckled while grinning at her. "Did I offend you?" Tamaki asked while his facial expression suddenly changed to one of somewhat worry as he assumed the reason why she had pointed that out to him was because he had possibly offended her.

Blinking a few times in first response, Kyo suddenly burst into laughter while shaking her head. "No, no, I wasn't offended." She stated through her laugh. "It just surprised me to hear you call me by my name without -san at the end of it." Kyo assured him while setting her fork down across the top of the empty plate before her. "If it makes you feel any better, I actually like being called just by my name. Besides, we're friends right?" She asked while looking up at Tamaki with a smile.

Immediately his amethyst gaze widened into large dewy pools as he snatched up her hands within his own and clasped them against his chest. "You really mean it Kyo?" He asked, his tone of voice almost in mimicry to that of a small child as he was starting to feel an overwhelming sense of joy build up within him. The nod from her dark haired head was all he needed to then grab her in a rather oddly positioned hug and held her close while rubbing his cheek against the top of her head. "Thank you, Kyo! You truly are the greatest! We are friends! I told you we were sailing down the path of friendship, and now we're doing so together in one boat!"

"I told you before, you don't sail down a path, you walk!" Kyo stammered while turning beat red in response to Tamaki's overly affectionate mannerisms. "So there's no boat either!" She tried to pry him off, but was failing miserably and finally gave up like she had at the hospital. However, she did shoot Kyoya a rather narrowed glare as if daring him to say anything.

Kyoya merely gave her a smirk in response. "You've grown on him rather quickly, Kyo-san." He mused while sitting back in a more comfortably position in his chair. "In fact, I think you've grown the most on the twins, whether they admit it or not." Kyoya pointed out while earning a dumbstruck look from not just Kyo but also from Tamaki as well. Kyoya held his smirk. "Who else has ever really given those two a good run for their money, or even put up a big challenge? None of us have ever been able to get under their skin like Kyo-san has, and none of us ever will. As much as they would hate to admit it, they do see Kyo as a rival, but they also see her as apart of their little two-man team." Kyoya explained, and then glanced over at Hunny who was staring at him with a starry eyed gaze. "What?"

"You called her Kyo!" Hunny stated in his usual excited manner. "Kyo-chan called Kyon-chan by her first name! You're friends too!"

Before anyone could say anymore, the sound of a high powered motor started up, the buzzing sound of running power causing Kyo to look about the music room from behind Tamaki's grasp with a puzzled look before her brow scrunched at the middle. "What the hell is that sound?" She questioned aloud while looking up at the blonde still holding her.

The silverware and settings on the table began to rattle in response to a tremor that seemed to shake the entire Third Music Room. Hunny picked up his teacup and took a sip from its sweet contents and then waited as the small saucer rattled across the table towards him, and then set his cup done to weigh the piece of ware down. From the middle of the floor, the tile seemed to slid back on their own, causing all four _hosts_ to turn towards its direction and watch as a slowly rotating platform rose up from the dark space cleared out of its way. Perched a top the rotating platform was a chestnut haired girl dressed in the long pale yellow dress uniform for female students of Ouran. Part of her hair was pulled back and up by a red ribbon so that her bangs framed her face making it look rather petite and round in the cheek area.

"It's so beautiful! Beautiful, I say!" The girl stated as the platform locked in place once its base reached floor level. "Tamaki-senpai and Kyo-senpai sharing a moment of beautiful friendship between two older class man! And now Kyoya-senpai will soon be joining in as well with his acknowledgment of Kyo-senpai as his friend!" She cried out in a exuberant manner while clutching her hands together before her breast.

Pointing at the unknown girl, or at least unknown to her, Kyo held a rather confused look on her face. "What the hell is _that_?"

"Ah, Renge-kun." Kyoya greeted the girl in a rather nonchalant manner, as he was of course used to her unusual entrances and overly adoring fashion for anything overly affectionate in the Host Club. "I thought you had gone back to France for a visit to your family?" He asked while standing up from his seat at the table.

The chestnut haired girl, named Renge, looked over at Kyoya with literal hearts in her eyes as she still seemed fixated on the fact that Tamaki was holding on to Kyo even now, both holding incredibly curious looks on their faces as they watched her in particular. However, as Kyoya's question resonated finally with her, Renge snapped out of her daze and smiled at him in a sheepish manner. "Yes well, I did. It was a short visit though." She chuckled while holding the back of her neck.

"Oi, Tamaki." Kyo's brow was furrowed slightly as she pushed herself out of his hold finally. "Who is she?"

The blonde 'king' of the Host Club glanced down at his friend with a somewhat amused look on his face. "Renge-kun's family lives in France, and so did she until she of course transferred here through a very hard to explain, and even understand, misconception she sort of had." He tried to explain.

"Oooohhhh...I don't get it." Kyo stated while crossing her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side as her eyes closed, Kyo almost had a fox-like appearance to her as she was very much confused by this whole scene.

Hunny giggled from his place at the table and pushed himself back. "Kyon-chan really is cute when she's confused." He grinned while hoping down off his chair, gathering up his usa-chan named Bun Bun from his place on the table between himself and where Kyo had been sitting. Skipping over to Kyo's side, and noticing that the dark haired girl was now staring at Renge with what looked like a mix between disbelief and disturbance, Hunny tugged on her arm to gain her attention. Once Kyo looked down at him, Hunny beamed at her. "Kyon-chan, can you walk with me to pick up Takashi?"

Raising a curious brow, Kyo only had to hear the loud screeching laugh coming from Renge to motivate her choice in the matter. "What are we waiting for then?!" Kyo sputtered quickly before snatching up Hunny and then proceeded to disappear from the club room like the wind.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_lol, I had fun writing this one, even if it was rather short compared to the others. It took my little sister's question concerning when Renge would make an appearance to remind me that I had yet to have her and Kyo interact on some level. Figured it was about time XD  
Anyways, my dear readers, please be prepared for much more of Renge, whether you love her or hate her._

_Peace!_

_- Kunoichi of Havok_


	14. Tie! The Uchiwa Hitachiin War!

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_**Tie! The Uchiwa Hitachiin War is About to End!**_

Hunny skipped along the hall in a rather happy manner, his Bun Bun tucked under his right arm while he held on to Kyo's hand with his left. A broad smile was plastered across his face at the moment as they traveled through the extravagant corridors of the academy, and for the most part Hunny was humming a tune to himself. Kyo on the other hand was elsewhere in her thoughts, wondering what the point was in celebrating a holiday that in her mind never really made sense in the first place. _Who sends their kids out in over priced costumes to beg for candy from complete strangers at night? I thought you weren't supposed to take candy from strangers in the first place? Must be a holiday that is endorsed by the field of dental care, or the candy companies. _Shaking her head, Kyo switched her train of thought to what could take place during such a holiday where in which scaring people silly was actually encouraged.

_Oh they'll try something alright. Maybe I should think up a way to get them as well, be prepared for what ever they bring. _Smirking quietly to herself, Kyo glanced down at Hunny briefly, only to have her senior catch her glance and grin up at her. "Hunny-senpai, I'm a bit curious about your role in the Host Club." Kyo stated while her face took on a rather thoughtful appearance to it. "Do you like being looked at as the Loli-Shota type?"

Hunny stared up at her, his grin still present. "I don't mind it at all." He replied while swinging his and Kyo's hands as they walked. "It's who I am inside. Being true to what makes a person happy show more strength than living a lie. Don't you think so, Kyon-chan?" Hunny asked, his childish tone of voice only making what he said more convicting in Kyo's ears.

"I guess you're right." Kyo admitted in agreement with a faint smile tracing her lips.

"What about Kyon-chan? Are you bothered by being called the rebel type?" Hunny asked, his large brown-eyed gaze studying Kyo while waiting for her response. Doing so, he caught the small waver in her facial expression before she picked up a rather cocky, and almost smart-ass, smirk while tilting her head up in a rather defiant manner.

"I honestly don't care about what I was labeled as. If that's how people see me based on the way I look, then that's their fault." Kyo stated in a rather sarcastic manner. "Maybe that's why I can't even being to understand the concept of the Host Club in the first place, aside from catering to the fetishes of the girls in this school who have too much free time on their hands."

Hunny nodded while looking off down the hall as they were approaching the outside exit. "Haru-chan and Kyon-chan are very different." Hunny commented aloud. "Neither one of you act like the other girls here at school, but at the same time, you are girls with different mannerisms." He chuckled lightly while hugging his usa-chan tightly in a cuddle.

A choked laugh from Kyo caused Hunny to explode into a round of laughter in response before pausing just outside the South Building they had walked out from. Kyo paused as well in response to Hunny's halted progress, and looked over at him with a curious gaze, only to find herself almost tackled by the petite blonde who had jumped at her with his arms wide open. Capturing her about the neck with a hug, Hunny hung from her with a huge smile as he stared up at her. "Kyon-chan, will you marry me later?" He asked in a completely innocent sounding tone of voice that sent Kyo into a flustered state of appearance as her face turned a few shades of red and she stuttered looking for a response to such a blunt question of rather great importance to its context.

"S-Stop playing around, Hunny-senpai!" Kyo sputtered while trying to sound more annoyed by the question than embarrassed, after having gone completely stiff, arms stuck in their bent positions at her sides while she tried to stare directly down at the clinging Hunny who hung from her neck like a piece of jewelry. However, his still ever present smile and lack of movement from his place, caused Kyo to swallow hard. "You're serious?!"

Hunny nodded, grin still on his face as he stared up at her. "Why wouldn't I be?" He asked, while at the same time snuggling up under her chin, further causing Kyo to flush an even deeper shade of red if it was possible. "I like Kyon-chan very much. She's strong, funny, confident, and smart! Why wouldn't anyone want to marry her?" He asked while lifting a brow that was rather tell-tell in what he meant.

Kyo blinked a stupid manner for a few seconds before her face returned to its usual color and a defeated smile escaped across her mouth. "Okay, I get it." She sighed while bending down a bit to set Hunny on his feet and crouched slightly to come to his level as he let go of her neck.

"Kyon-chan may say she doesn't care what people label her as, but that's not true, is it?" Hunny asked, while holding his usa-chan before him. "You're worried no one will ever know the real Uchiwa Kyo. But the truth is, I know the real Uchiwa Kyo already. She's my friend and I love her very much," pausing a moment, Hunny set his beloved stuffed rabbit down on the ground, and then set his hands on Kyo's cheeks and looked her right in the eye, "So I worry when she tries to act tough and wave something off that bothers her."

Remaining quiet, Kyo stared at Hunny with an almost blank expression for a moment before giving him another smile. "Thank you, Hunny-senpai." Her statement of thanks followed by a sincere hug that she brought her older friend into, and received one right back from him. Ending the hug, Kyo held Hunny out at arm's length and winked at him. "Let's go get Mori-senpai and head back to the music room." Hunny nodded vigorously to this and grabbed Kyo's hand within his as she stood back up.

By the time Kyo and Hunny reached the Kendo Club, its members had called it a day and Mori was already packing up his gear and pulling on his uniform jacket when his cousin and fellow _host_ arrived. Hunny bounded into the room and before anyone could blink, was up on top of his cousin's shoulders sitting comfortably as he always did. A few of the Kendo Club members held somewhat curious looks on their faces in response to Kyo's presence, several of the boys finding it completely confusing as to why their hearts were starting to beat rather fast after staring at her for just a moment. One of them smacked himself silly as he was remind just by looking at the rest of _him_ and stalked away after throwing his bag over his shoulder, while the others swallowed hard and shook their heads at their own stupid thoughts before following suit and leaving as well.

"Neh, neh, Takashi! Kyon-chan met Renge-kun today!" Hunny exclaimed in a rather excited manner. "I think she scared Kyon-chan though." He mused while recalling how quickly Kyo wanted to leave as soon as Hunny suggested a possible route.

"She didn't scare me, so much as make me question whether or not she is in fact not an alien." Kyo replied while scratching the back of her head.

Hunny giggled. "Oh, I almost forgot! Takashi, Kyo-chan said that we're going to be having a Halloween themed event tomorrow! Right, Kyon-chan?" Hunny looked to his standing friend who now looked like a hissing cat again in response to reminder of what Kyoya had planned for that particular event.

Seeing Kyo's reaction to the mere mention of the Halloween themed Host Club event, the right corner of Mori's mouth pulled as he found her reaction a bit humorous even though he had seen a few other times before. Shouldering his gear bag, Mori glanced up at his small cousin. "Do we need to go back to the club room?" His tone of voice just as stoic and smooth as ever. After seeing Hunny shake his head 'no' in response, Mori nodded. "Then are you ready to go home?" he asked.

"Yep!" Hunny replied in a chirp while throwing his hands up in the air, Bun Bun sitting atop Mori's head all the while. "Kyon-chan, are you going home too?" He asked as they headed towards the front entrance of the Kendo Club.

Shrugging, Kyo shoved her hands into the pockets of her black pants. "I am, but I'm going to wait for Haruhi to get back and head out with her." Kyo replied while squinting her eyes a bit in response to the outside light. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." She stated in a friendly good-bye to Hunny and Mori, who in turn gave their own good-byes and waved as the group went in two different directions.

Taking her time in returning to the music room, Kyo glanced up at the sky for a brief moment and sighed. There hadn't been any clouds for the whole day, and for some reason, other than the fact that she liked watching the clouds, it bothered her. _I have a really weird feeling. _Kyo's brow furrowed slightly as she exhaled in a sigh before continuing on towards the South Building. However, as she reached the door and extended a hand out towards the knob, Kyo was suddenly drenched head to toe with two gallons of bone chilling water. After the sudden waterfall passed in about two seconds, Kyo was left in the same position she had just been standing in, but was now blinking in a dumbstruck manner while every tip of her dark hair dripped with water, her white dress shirt and black slacks sticking to her like it was apart of her body and showing off the curves that her clothes were supposed to be hiding.

An uproar of laughter exploded from behind her, two distinct voices mixing into one sound as they seemed unable to control themselves at this point. Taking her glasses off, as they were now streaked with the water that had cascade down upon her, while at the same time trying to contain the fury building up inside of her. Behind her, the Hitachiin twins were literally on the ground and holding their middles as they rolled about laughing at the drenched Kyo who was now starting to turn around to face them.

"You should see your face!" Hikaru wheezed through his laughter while smacking the ground with his hand. "It's priceless!"

Kaoru tried to take a breath but found it hard as his own laughter cut off any intake. "Paper fan-senpai looks like a drenched cat!" He howled while leaning over his brother to at least keep himself from being fully laid out of the ground.

Slipping her glasses off, Kyo folded the stems across the lenses now streaked with drying water stain and first glanced back over her shoulder, dark blue eyes void of any emotion or human feeling as they glared at the two red haired boys. Her stark gaze snapped the boys to attention, and they were up on their feet in a flash striking their infamous stance and sizing up the possibility that they may just end up running for their lives at any given moment.

"So, it looks like our score is now tied, is it not, Kyo-_senpai_." Hikaru elongated her honorific in a sarcastic manner while grinning like the devil himself. "What are you going to do now?"

Taking in a deep breath, Kyo turned around to face the two boys, her drenched figure suddenly shutting them up as soon as they even saw the start of her profile. By the time she had turned to a sort of halfway point, the unamused look on her glasses free face had both Hikaru and Kaoru swallowing hard as her female gender couldn't have been more pronounced than now. Smirking slightly at the looks on their faces, Kyo huffed as she set the hand holding her folded glasses on her right hip. "What am I gonna do now?" Kyo asked in a mimic to Hikaru's question. "Fairly simple I think." She stated while reaching up to her visible ear that the twins could see, and flicked the small silver hoop hanging from it. The small tinkle of the struck metal caused the boys to raise a questioning brow before they stared with wide eyes through an explosion of colored water that erupted from immediately in front of them.

After the spouting column settled down, Hikaru and Kaoru were left drenched head to toe and dyed a rather ravishing shade of red. A rather victorious toothy grin crossed over Kyo's mouth as she watched the flustered movements of the boys as they looked themselves and one another over. Hikaru was the first set a rather unhappy glare upon Kyo and stamped his foot while his hands curled into fists at his side. "You turned us red!"

"You got me all wet." Kyo pointed out while casually crossing her arms across the front of her waist. "I believe that's supposed to be considered as an '_eye for an eye_'." Kyo grinned in a cheeky manner.

Opening and closing his mouth as he tried to come up with something to say, Hikaru finally threw his arms up in the air and huffed in an annoyed manner. "Fine!" Crossing his arms like a stubborn child, Hikaru turned away from Kyo, looking off to his far right.

Kyo stared at the pouting boy with a raised brow for a moment before looking over at Kaoru, who was in the same pouting mood as his brother and sulking in response to having been duped right after evening the score against their greatest nemesis. Before she knew it, Kyo burst into a fit of rather loud laughter causing the boys to look over at her with blank looks. "You two are so stubborn it's ridiculous." Kyo stated while her laughter began to die down and smiled at them in an honest manner that was friendly.

"Look who's talking." Kaoru muttered as his nose wrinkled up in response to her comment, while Hikaru looked as though he were ready to explode.

Shaking her head to rid it of the water still dripping down into her vision and across her skin, Kyo smirked while setting her hands on her hips. "Looks like our tie was just broken." Kyo pointed out in a mocking victorious manner.

The pouts on the faces of the Hitachiin twins slid into sly grins as they hid behind a hand each. "Neh, Kaoru, Paper fan-senpai thinks she's broken the tie." Hikaru laughed in a rather sinister manner as he looked over at his brother.

"So it seems Hikaru." Kaoru agreed while also sounding just as sinister as Hikaru did. "Perhaps we should show her what we meant by a tie then?" He snickered while pulling out from his red dyed and soaked jacket pocket, a rather curious looking item that had Kyo blinking wide-eyed for a moment as she tried to understand what it was that Kaoru now held in his hand.

As Kyo opened her mouth in an attempt to utter a question in response to what they meant, she was cut off by the sudden grip about her left ankle and then gave a startled yelp as she was jerked off her feet and snapped high up in an upside down manner. After bouncing about for a few seconds and trying regain her sense of surroundings at the same time, Kyo finally found it a bit easier to breath before noticing that the world was now staring at her in a very peculiar manner. _What the...?_ "HIKARU! KAORU! WHEN I GET DOWN FROM HERE, I SWEAR YOUR DEATHS WILL BE LONG AND PAINFUL!" Kyo shouted from her hanging state at the second floor level outside the South Building after being caught up in a rope trap the twins had set up.

Down below, both redheads held up victory signs while grinning from ear to ear.


	15. Happy Halloween

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

_**Happy Halloween**_

The doors to the Third Music Room in the South Building opened slowly, a mist curling out through the gap and creating a rather ominous and creepy feel amongst the _customers_ who had come to be entertain by the Host Club. As the doors opened all the way, it was apparent that the curling mist was merely the prelude as low lighting and dark backdrops depicting an old graveyard greeted the young ladies who had stepped foot across the threshold.

"Welcome, and Happy Halloween." Tamaki greeted with a rather devilish smile showing off his extended canine fangs.

All members of the Host Club, or at least most of them, were dressed like aristocratic vampires with top hats and evening capes, sporting faux porcelain fang caps over their upper canines. Even Hunny's usa-chan had fangs of its own and a tiny top hat in order to match the short blonde Senior. While the boys of the Host Club supported a very sought after fetish for young women during Halloween, the other two _male _students of the Host Club were not dressed up as vampires. In fact, Fujioka Haruhi was seated off to the side sporting a very different costume all together that looked more on the anthro side of things as a pair of triangular black ears peeked out from the top of her head and a long snaking black tail sprouted out from underneath the coattails of her tuxedo like jacket. Apparently, she had been given the befitting black cat costume for Halloween and although she smiled at her _customers_ as usual, she held a death glare on Kyoya and the others at the back of her mind.

"Haruhi-kun, where is Kyo-senpai today?" A petite blonde asked while setting her teacup down upon its saucer. "I haven't seen him even during school hours." She pointed out while looking rather concerned upon this issue and raising the curiosity of the other two girls sitting on her left and right.

Haruhi smiled at them gently. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Why he's late for his attendance here at the Host Club, I'm not quite sure of." Haruhi stated in her best to assure the girls, while wondering at the same time what it was that kept the second dark haired Sophomore of the Host Club, and why she hadn't even been seen for the last few periods during school hours.

Listening in on the conversation for a moment, Tamaki looked over at Kyoya, who was currently jotting a few things down on his ever present notepad. "Neh, Kyoya, the ladies are right. I haven't seen Kyo since lunch period." As he spoke, his brow started to wrinkle as the blonde 'king' of the Host Club frowned.

"I haven't seen Kyo either." Kyoya replied while slipping his pen into the slot along side his notepad. "I don't think Hikaru and Kaoru had anything to do with it, seeing as how they arrived with Haruhi before we opened the doors to the music room." He mused as he eliminated the obvious suspects that could have been involved in Kyo's rather abrupt disappearance.

Catching Kyoya's rather obvious glance towards the redheaded twins, Tamaki's brow twitched at the thoughts running through his head as to what they could have done to Kyo and for the reminder that they had arrived with Haruhi after class. _But Kyoya's right, as much as I would hate to admit it, they apparently have nothing to do with her disappearance. But then, where did Kyo disappear to? _Exhaling quietly in a soft sigh, Tamaki ran a hand through his blonde hair and decided it to best that he returned his attention to the two girls he was entertaining for an other hour. "Now, my dear princesses, where were we?" He asked, voice tone silky and macabre as he seated himself before them, flipping the tail of his cape out so that he didn't sit down upon it.

As the two girls swooned at his words and all out dark prince appearance, the door to the Host Club suddenly popped open in a loud slam as two boys came barreling into the room. Shutting the doors behind them and turning the locks as if their lives depended on how quick they do this, they both then turned their backs against the double doors and slid down the face while patting heavily in an attempt to catch their breathes. All eyes and attention were on them and they were also immediately recognized as the Class President of 1-A, Souga Kazukiyo, and the missing Host Club member from 2-A, Uchiwa Kyo. Both were now seated upon the floor near out of breath and looking as though they had both been chased through the whole school and scared out of their minds.

"Oh...thank...god...we made...it!" Kazukiyo wheezed while clutching at his chest, his eyes wide and his whole person looking shaken to the very core.

"I think I may have lost four of nine lives back there." Kyo added in while looking exactly like Kazukiyo, except for the fact that her tone of voice was almost sarcastic and her eyes looked weary with dark circles underneath.

The murmurs of the other students in the room were starting to grow, and many of the female _customers_ were looking slightly concerned for the pale faced boys sitting on the floor beneath the doors. Those closest to the two had removed themselves from their seats and were either approaching the them or crouching down beside them with worried looks. One of the Senior girls who had placed herself at Kazukiyo's side set a hand gently upon his shoulder. "Souga-kun, are you okay?"

Feeling the touch on his shoulder and the sudden question, Kazukiyo leaped up off the floor while still seated and planted himself almost directly on top of Kyo, to whom he clutched too like a lifeline as he had been scared yet again. Smothered beneath the shaking giant sized maraca, Kyo flipped out from a combination of stress and terror from what they had just been through, and started trying to shove Kazukiyo off while looking like an angry cat.

"Get off of me, now!" Kyo hissed while flailing madly, her foot now squarely planted up against Kazukiyo's cheek while her hands tried to pry his arms off from around her shoulders. "I said get off!"

"Kyo looks rather upset." Tamaki mused with a nervous chuckle as he watched Kyo's desperate attempts to free herself from the terrified clutches of the Class President.

Everyone in the room seemed to simultaneously nod in agreement to this as they watched Kyo now pretty much stomp on the still clinging Kazukiyo who appeared to be without his "soul" so to speak. Excusing herself, Haruhi hurried over to the now out of breathe Kyo who was now kicking the Class President in a less exuberant manner as she grown tired in a fruitless effort to pry the Freshman off herself. "Uh, Kyo-senpai, maybe you and Kazukiyo-senpai should sit down, neh?" She suggested with a near hopeless smile that she meant to be much more encouraging as she was faced with a rather unknown situation at the moment.

It took only a few moments for things to be revised, Kyo and Kazukiyo were seated on the nearest sofas while the rest of the room took up seats about them with great interest to the soon to come explanation once Kyo regained _his_ breath and Kazukiyo was snapped back to attention. Tamaki, Kyoya, and Haruhi sat on the sofa sitting across from them, the twins, Mori, and Hunny of course taking positions up on either side of the whole circle, and all of them were greatly curious as to what had happened.

Kazukiyo sat shaking on the sofa on the far left end of the couch, Kyo far on the right looking a bit more relaxed than Kazukiyo but still clearly shaken. Hunny set a freshly brewed cup of Chamomile tea before Kazukiyo in hopes to help him calm down. "There you go Kazu-chan! Drink slowly, it's hot, but it will help you relax a bit. Okay?" Hunny tilted his head to the side as he grinned broadly at the 1-A Class President.

"T-Thank you, Haninozuka-senpai." He stated while reaching out and picking up the offered tea, his shaking hands almost causing the golden liquid inside to spill out over the rim, but somehow he avoided that rather painful occurrence and took a sip of the steaming drink. Setting the teacup back down, Kazukiyo took a deep breath and tried to relax.

As far as relaxed went for Kyo, the Sophomore sat on the couch in a cross-legged manner with arms crossed over her chest and a rather perturbed look on her face as she stared off towards the wall to her extreme far right. The look in her eyes threatened to burn a hole through anyone who happened to pass within the lines of her cross-hairs.

"So," Haruhi began slowly while trying to think of a way in which to ask what had happened without sounding rhetorical. However, it seemed impossible not to sound rhetorical, and thus Haruhi sighed a rather heavy exhale while rubbing the back of her neck. "What happened?"

_**Six Hours Ago...**_

The bell had already run, signaling the end of the period and the start for lunch, and the students of the 1-A class were in a rather giddy mood since they had all agreed on a very unique way to spend their free time for the next week or so with teachers going over mid-term exams. Or at least how to celebrate Halloween that day. As the students headed out of their classroom, a few girls began to giggle like mad in response to seeing an older and rather familiar face standing out in the hall and leaning up against the opposite wall from them. Stifling their giggles behind their small hands, the girls approached the dark haired Sophomore from the 2-A class who looked to have been napping for a few minutes and awoke upon hearing the door to the classroom open.

"Kyo-senpai, what are you doing here?" One of the girls asked with a rather sweet smile on her face, hands folded across her lap as she looked up at the tall boy.

Smiling back at the girl, Kyo recognized her immediately as one of the _customers_ she had gained after coming back to school with dark hair and glasses framing blue eyes. "Good afternoon, Airi-san." She greeted the girl with a nod. "I was actually waiting to speak with Haruhi-kun." Kyo added while glancing over towards the door where the rest of the class was slowly trickling out through. However, a familiar brunette was not appearing along side the rest of the class.

"Ah, Haruhi-kun left before the bell with the Class President." Another spoke up while tapping the very tip of her chin as she suddenly remembered that small bit of information.

Kyo blinked a few times with a rather blank look on her face. "He already left?" Her nose wrinkled up a bit along the bridge. Scratching the back of her head, Kyo sighed while looking off down the hall and looked a bit surprised to see the 1-A Class President sulking back up her way dragging his feet. _Why do I get the feeling that somehow, in some way, Hikaru and Kaoru had something to do with that whole walk of his. _Looking back to the girls still swooning at her mere presence, Kyo winced a small smile before excusing herself. "Well, thank you for informing me as to where Haruhi-kun has gone. Have nice day ladies." She stated before walking down the hall towards the trudging Class President.

As she approached the younger student, Kyo could only make out the fact that he was mumbling something under his breath while rubbing the back of his neck, a rather depressed look on his face. A bit curious as to what had deflated the poor guy, Kyo decided not to startle him and merely approached him in a manner that would alert him to her presence. Hearing approaching footsteps, Kazukiyo looked up and offered the older student coming his way a very small smile. "Ah, good afternoon Uchiwa-senpai." He greeted meekly.

"Afternoon, Souga-kun." Kyo greeted with a grin. "Why so glum chum?" She asked while chuckling quietly at the rather corny wording she had actually allowed to come out of her mouth.

Chuckling sheepishly, Kazukiyo sighed in what sounded like defeat as he shrugged. "Eh, it's nothing really." He replied, not wanting to drag the older student into his problems unwillingly.

Kyo lifted a brow, a curious smirk forming upon her lips as she could see the Class President hiding something from her. "Are you sure?" She asked, prodding at what seemed like hesitation on Kazukiyo's part.

Looking up at the dark haired Sophomore with a look that was a bit on the debating side, Kazukiyo swallowed hard and decided to spill his woes on Kyo. "No. No, I am not sure about anything at this point." He groaned while turning so that way his back met up with the closest wall where the open windows brought into the hall. Once he felt contact with the wall to his back, Kazukiyo slid down towards the floor, crouching only a few small inches from actually sitting down. Draping his arms in across his knees, the Class President dropped his head. "The thing is, the 1-A Class decided to throw a Test of Courage at the end of today during the night hours." He explained in mutter.

"Nyctophobia." Kyo suddenly interjected, her tone almost matter of fact as she had since appeared before the Class President crouched as well with a somewhat unamused look on her face.

Jumping out of his skin, loosing all color to his skin, Kazukiyo shrank up against the wall as if it were a desperately needed lifeline. Kyo's sudden response to his half way done confession had not been anticipated, and the Class President was startled. While attempting to catch his breath and steady his heart-rate at the same time, Kazukiyo nodded in a shaky manner. "Y-Yes, I believe that's what it's called."

Shrugging in a nonchalant manner, Kyo offered the still rather flustered looking boy a smile while tilting her head to the side. "So you're a coward when it comes to anything pretty much on the creepy and scary side of things." The defeated and immediate drop of Kazukiyo's head was enough of an agreement that Kyo raised a brow. "You know, I bet that there are other students in Ouran that have far worse fears than yourself. It's nothing to be ashamed of either." Kyo stated while trying to make the gloomy looking boy feel a bit better...somehow...

Rubbing the back of his neck with both hands, Kazukiyo exhaled a heavy sigh before looking up at Kyo. "Easy for you to say. At least you can watch a scary movie without fainting or passing out after the first minute runs." He muttered while folding his arms over the tops of his knees and appeared to try hiding his embarrassed look as his face started to turn red.

Scratching the back of her head, Kyo chuckled in a sheepish manner. "True. But that doesn't mean I'm without any deep dark fear. I mean, feeling fear is a sign of being alive and with emotion. Human nature." Kyo trailed off as she could see her small pep talks weren't having any real affect on the poor guy. Sighing quietly while glancing up at the window above Kazukiyo's head, Kyo stared out at the pale blue sky, spotting the small clumps of white cloud that passed by. _Wishful thinking, even though cloud watching would be nice right now. _

"Neh, Uchiwa-senpai." Kazukiyo's voice causing the older student to look down at him almost immediately with a questioning gaze. "Are you busy right now?"

**Five Minutes Later...**

Both Kazukiyo and Kyo stared up at the Bell Tower sitting just on the backside of the South Building, their faces looking as though they were on the verge of loosing color and the expression bordering on debate as to whether or not they should even dare to enter this building that now loomed over them. There was no noise at all around the Bell Tower as it seemed that it had all just pulled away and relocated as far back as possible, which in Kyo's opinion seemed to be a rather decent warning for them to follow. Kazukiyo's knees were already knocking together as he stared up at the tower, his face now chalk white and his eyes showing no signs of life.

High above, a lone crow cried out what sounded like teasing call of "_fool_" to the two students far below. Kyo glanced up into the sky with a questioning gaze and eyebrow raised at the same time, curious as to where that crow had come from and why it sounded as though it were calling them names. However, Kyo's time to contemplate or wonder ended soon as her shoulders were suddenly grabbed by the Class President.

"Uchiwa-senpai, I don't think this is a good idea after all. I appreciate you helping me out and all to save me the hassle of two trips, but this Bell Tower is supposed to be cursed!" Kazukiyo stated in a frantic manner. "Let's just forget it! We don't need those supplies! I'm sure the students can go out and buy some elsewhere and such!" His tone of voice was high and shrill now as he shook the older student in order to further convey his conviction on this point,

Without even batting an eye, Kyo simply dropped her right hand down on the top of his head in a very simple chop that struck the Class President and cut off his wild sputtering and claims to curses and the such. "Calm down." She instructed in a clam almost commanding tone while holding a rather nonchalant look upon her face. "It's just a bell tower, and this so called 'curse' is only an urban myth." Kyo stated while walking out of the now frozen Kazukiyo's grasp and started over towards the massive double doors that allowed entrance to the bell tower. "Let's just go in, grab the supplies you guys need for the test tonight, and then get back to your classroom." Glancing back over her shoulder as she walked, Kyo paused after seeing the rather terrified and lifeless look on the guy's face.

His gaze was upwards, and with a dropped jaw he just stared. Following his line of vision, Kyo had to hold a hand up over her eyes to block out the sun and see what it was that had Kazukiyo stopped dead in his tracks. With eyes squinting, brow furrowed in a sense of scrutinizing study, Kyo felt a very cold chill run up her spine at that moment as her dark blue-eyed gaze caught sight of what looked like a white figure sitting up inside of the glass clock face of the bell tower itself. However, as soon as Kyo blinked, the white figure was gone, leaving the Sophomore to stare with a choked look at where it had been.

For a moment, a long silent pause passed over the two students, the cry of some bird somewhere far off echoed in the background. And that was all it took for Kazukiyo to turn tail and make to run off faster than possibly even Kyo could, but his attempt was thwarted as Kyo reached back and grabbed him by the back of his jacket collar holding him fast. "LET ME GO!" Kazukiyo flailed as he protested to being dragged along and into the bell tower. "I beg of you, don't make me go in there!"

"Oh for the love of god, would you stop kicking!" Kyo snapped while tossing the boy forward after entering the bell tower. "The faster we get those supplies, the faster we can get out of here. And we can't do that if you continue to thrash about and panic."

That simple pointed statement seemed to enough to bring Kazukiyo to a sudden stop in his mad babbling of continued protest. Exhaling a heavy sigh of defeat, he nodded meekly before following after the older student in a sulking manner, his speckled gaze slipping into every direction as quickly as possible. "Kurakano-san said that the supplies are supposed to be on the fourth floor of the bell tower."

"The fourth floor?" Kyo looked back over her shoulder with a raised brow. "Who did that?" A shrug from the Class President was all Kyo needed for her question to somewhat have an answer. Sighing, she looked forward again as they were coming up on the first flight of stairs that would take them up the levels of the bell tower. Fortunately enough, Kyo did little in effort to make sure that Kazukiyo stayed with her. In all it took around ten minutes for them to reach the fourth level of the bell tower and step into a rather dusty and somewhat furnished space that had light streaming in from almost three different windows. Kyo glanced about, curious at the rather odd surroundings of the bell tower and also trying to locate where it was that the supplies they needed were stored.

Kazukiyo stepped cautiously into the room and slowly began to look around with heightened senses due to the high amount of fear circulating through him. At any given moment, as soon as something popped up or appeared, he was ready for the run of his life. Sticking to Kyo like her shadow, Kazukiyo was the first to spot the stack of a cardboard boxes tucked under dust covers off on the far side of the room. "Ah, Uchiwa-senpai, there they are." He pointed over at the corner stack and was momentarily distracted from his own fear to come out from behind Kyo and pad over to the stored boxes. Pulling the dust cover off the boxes, Kazukiyo couldn't help but grin in response to each individually labeled box just reaching him at shoulder level.

Chuckling behind her lips, Kyo shrugged while walking over to where the Class President stood and looked the boxes over for a brief second or two and then grabbed the first four she knew wouldn't be a problem to handle, leaving the final two for Kazukiyo to pick up on his own. As both students made their out of the room and started back down the stairs, Kyo leading the way again with Kazukiyo bringing up the rear.

"See, I told you this would be easy." Kyo stated with a very proud smile spread across her face as she made her way down the stairs in an overly confident manner. "Nothing to worry about."

"Hey yeah! I guess you were right!" Kazukiyo laughed as he felt a wave of relief wash over him upon setting foot on the ground level of the bell tower.

Nodding, Kyo headed straight for the door but paused as she peeked out from around the mildly weighted load. Her brow suddenly twitched in response to a rather irritating thing that lay before them and blocking their way out. Kazukiyo popped up from behind her, a curious look on his face as he was a bit confused as to why they had stopped and looked from Kyo to the door, and back. "I don't remember closing the door all the way." Kyo murmured while glancing over at Kazukiyo.

Shaking his head in response as he assumed that Kyo was asking by the glance if he had possibly closed it behind them. "I figured we'd need it open when we came back down. I never touched it."

"Weird." Kyo mused while setting down the boxes she had been holding and stepped over to the door. Grabbing hold of the handle, Kyo went to turn it and pull the heavy door open in order to leave, but found that it was not clicking as it should have and swore under her breath. Looking over at the lock, Kyo noted that it was still in its unlocked position, and yet... "What the hell man."

"What?" Kazukiyo asked, his boxes resting atop the ones that Kyo had been carrying, and came to see what the problem was. "It's unlocked."

"Yeah, I know. But the handle won't turn." Kyo replied while jiggling the handle to point out the small problem they had on their hands. "See?"

Kazukiyo opened his mouth to say something, but found that whatever he had been planning on saying was cut off immediately from a low moaning sound the seemed to resonate from all around them and last for a solid minute. All it took was for the last note to end and vibrate throughout the massive building, and Kazukiyo's face lost all color while the last nerve in his body seemed to crumble apart. While the Freshman sprung out and hoped to latch on to the only available source of what he considered as a means of safety, Kazukiyo's face was met with the bottom of Kyo's dress shoe. Making a few low gurgling noises that sounded as though he were choking down a pained groan, the Class President slid down to the floor off the bottom of Kyo's shoe.

The dark haired Sophomore held a rather unamused look on her face as she stared down at the twitching boy. "That was the wind." She stated grimly while looking back towards the door. "Even in places run by the wealthy, there can be the occasional draft." Kyo mused while this time gripping the door handle with both hands and braced one foot up against the wall making sure it was almost level with her shoulder height. Taking a breathe, Kyo pulled back while pushing down on the handle hoping the lock and pad were just sticking. However, Kyo found herself struggling after only four seconds and was now yanking and pulling like a little savage on the door before letting go momentarily to then proceed in kicking it repeatedly.

While Kyo battled the door, Kazukiyo was slowly coming to and swayed as he got up to his feet. Rubbing the rather soar spot on the right side of his face, the boy muttered under his breath as he looked about in a dazed manner before straightening his glasses. "Uchiwa-senpai, you didn't have to kick me like that." He whimpered while watching her pound away on the door like it was a drum with her clenched fists.

"I didn't kick you!" Kyo snapped while taking on a rather feral fury that she directed towards him with full force. "You ran into my foot that happened to be conveniently raised! And on your own might I add!"

Again, as the Class President opened his mouth to speak in protest, there was a rather ominous boom of thunder that sent both students into a completely frozen state of being while what light in the bell tower vanished for a good three seconds before returning intensely through one of the ground windows with the massive shadow outline of a cat-like puppet with its hands raised high above its head while a rolling meow echoed out.

It only took a quick exchange of looks between the two students before the doors to the bell tower blew open as if rammed by Superman himself, spewing forth Kyo and Kazukiyo who were now running for their lives at equal superhuman pace. Tearing a path across the courtyards, screaming jumbled and incoherent words and phrases at the same time.

"Run! Run for your life! Every man for himself! No man is an island! Don't stop running!"

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die! I don't wanna die! I'm too young to die!"

It only took them a minute before the two students burst in through the doors of the South Building and tore up the stairs all the way to the Third Music Room in the greatest scene of panic that had ever been witnessed on the campus of Ouran Academy.

**Back to present time...**

"You're kidding, right?" Haruhi asked with a furrowed brow after listening to the full account of Kazukiyo and Kyo's story from start to somewhat finish. "The bell tower is cursed, and you were chased from it by an evil spirit." She slowly recounted with a very unsure look on her face as it was hardly anything solid in proof to believe, even though Kyo had been the one account for the event.

Kazukiyo shook his furiously. "No, Haruhi-san, it happened! Me running from something that went bump in the shadows is one thing, but it also scared Uchiwa-senpai as well! We were both running for our lives!"

Kyo nodded in agreement to this while sitting cross-legged on the couch, arms crossed over her chest. "I nearly had a heart attack ten times over when that evil spirit showed up in the window. There's no way even I could make something like this up at all!" The dark haired Sophomore stated while slamming her hand down on the coffee table separating their couch from the other, a scowl clearly written across her face.

Every single _customer_ that pulled up a chair to sit about the two boys who had come flying into the Third Music Room, were gripped by the story being told to them. Eyes wide, face drawn into tight lipped stares, and now the color had completely pulled from their flesh hue leaving them all looking like porcelain china dolls. Even the 'king' of the Host Club, Suoh Tamaki, sat gripped by what looked like pure terror in response to the story that had been relayed to them all. His grip on the sofa cushions had pierced through the crushed velvet lining and dug far into the stuffing, his knuckles turning white as the magnitude of his grip increased. Kyoya noted the reaction in his friend's physical state and then glanced over at the other members of the Host Cub to find that Hunny was now clinging to Mori as if his very life depended on it, his face drawn into a petrified look as he watched Kyo and Kazukiyo.

Haruhi of course didn't seemed affected by it, and the twins had rather interested looks on their faces as if musing over the story. All in all, the tale of Kyo and Kazukiyo's disappearance for most of the day and the explosive manner in which they returned looking as though they had been chased by demonic spirits themselves on this day of Halloween. _Rather interesting. _Kyoya mused quietly while turning his attention down to his notepad, the tip of his pen scraping across the surface of the paper as he made small notes to himself for later use.

Sighing quietly under her lips, Haruhi glanced about the room at the wide-eyed looks, the gripped sense of excitement at something paranormal, and while Kyo seemed to be the only sense of complete and utter frustration in the room, Kazukiyo remained the ever present terrified paranoia. It was somewhat well known that the fantasy sense of Halloween, the urban myths, and just the sheer excitement of being scared silly placed everyone in a much more heightened sense of things, leaving them vulnerable to find terror in even the smallest of things. Shaking her head, Haruhi was about to open her mouth and suggest a much more logical explanation to what had happened in the bell tower, when suddenly the lights turned off throughout the entire Third Music Room.

Everyone went completely still, their breathing now loud gasps as a deep resonating rumble swept through almost sounding like...a word? However, as the others looked about in only a mild manner of fear, Kyo and Kazukiyo exchanged wide-eyed looks with one another. It was only seconds of darkness before the lights turned on and the muttered growling ended. The relieved sighs of the room swelled, the Class President looking extremely pale though as was Kyo who sat rigid in her seat. Again, the lights snapped off, more growling words that couldn't be discerned spewed forth while a small porcelain vase spun off the ledge of a nearby shelf and shattered upon hitting the solid wood floors of the music room, spilling a small amount of water and freeing the flowers being stored within.

The standing prop oil-lamp teetered and then crashed to the floor with a pop that sent several of the girls jumping from their chairs and holding on to one another. Just like before, the lights came back to life leaving the room full of students feeling very uneasy. Before any of them could recover, let alone give enough time for Kazukiyo to bolt from the room in a terrified panic, as the lights went out for a third time. Only this time, nothing fell off the shelves, no dark murky words were growled, but in the face of the massive windows in the center of the window wall, the massive shadowy figure that had sent Kyo and Kazukiyo running like a couple of bat's out of hell the first time, appeared for everyone to see. A loud ominous '_meow_' echoed through the music room sending everyone from their chairs with small shrieks as the clutched to the closest person next to them in search of a safety line.

As the lights flicked on again, the shadowy figure now gone from the windows, the girls in the room were of course spooked, but at the same time clearly looking rather thrilled to be scared silly. Looking about in a rather blank and almost expressionless manner, Haruhi shrugged before catching sight of a ghost colored Tamaki who had seemingly had a heart attack where he was sitting, his soul apparently hovering above his head as he stared off into space.

"Ah, where'd Kyon-chan and Kazu-chan go?" Hunny queried, even from his cemented place upon his cousin's back, fingers digging into the top of Mori's shoulders after the small blonde had been throughly frightened just like the rest of the room more or less.

All eyes now turned to the spot on the couch where Uchiwa Kyo and Souga Kazukiyo _**had**_ been sitting, only to find that the two students were now missing. With the speed unmatched by even The Flash himself if he were real, Kyo and Kazukiyo tore through the flights of stairs of the South Building, exploding through the main doors on the ground level and continued to run for their lives across the campus of Ouran Academy, shrieking like horror movie beauties.

"We're gonna die! I don't wanna die! I want to see eighteen!"

"Run you fool! Run! We're gonna die!"


	16. Before the Storm Hits

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

_**Before The Storm Hits**_

Fujioka Haruhi scratched the back of her head while yawning as she walked up the pristine and almost spotless cement pathways of Ouran Academy. Home room was about to start in about ten minutes giving the Freshman a decent amount of time to get there without rushing. Yawning again, Haruhi ran a hand through her rather unruly chocolate colored hair and blinked a few times in an attempt to adjust her contacts and clear the fog that grown over her eyes due to the last tethers of sleep that refused to leave completely. As she blinked, Haruhi managed to catch glimpse of a rather odd appearance ahead of her that had the first year lifting a brow as she continued to further approach a young man standing up against the trunk of a white cherry tree sitting neatly alongside the walkway, his eyes closed while both arms were tucked across his chest.

Just from observing him as she walked, Haruhi noted that he had to stand somewhere around Kyoya's height, maybe a little taller, with short dark brown hair that stuck up in what looked like layered spikes, and dressed in dark slacks accompanied by a deep olive toned tailored jacket bearing a garnet patterned crest on the left shoulder facing Haruhi. His over all appearance was one that Haruhi recognized immediately as being a "pure bred" child of wealth, but his manner of dress stated that he was not apart of the Ouran Academy student body. A bit curious, but focused on getting to home room, Haruhi tucked this boy's presence away into a noted category of her mind, and didn't even give the guy a second glance as she passed by.

"You must be Fujioka Haruhi."

Pausing a few steps away from the boy, Haruhi looked back over her shoulder and was introduced to another detail of the unknown boy's overall look, as his topaz gaze rested almost forcefully upon her now. _Odd. How did he know my name? _"Yes, that would be me." Haruhi replied while turning part way so that her neck wouldn't be twisted in such an odd position for the duration of this conversation. "May I ask, how it is that you came to know my name? After all, your uniform suggests that you're not even from this Academy." As she spoke, Haruhi matched the boy's gaze with her own, almost challenging him.

The boy didn't even bat an eye, let alone show any sign of emotion as he continued to stare at Haruhi from his place against the tree. "You're friends with Uchiwa Kyo, yes?" He asked, the tone of his words giving sign that he was coming around to the answer that Haruhi asked of him. A simple nod from Haruhi was all the boy needed to continue on. "I've heard about you through what I've heard about Kyo's transfer to this, private academy." The boy stated while pausing for a moment in mid sentence as he glanced over out of the corner of his eye towards the massive sprawling grounds and buildings, a ghost flame of what could only be described as distaste or an unimpressed response to the private institution's appearance.

"You seem to know Kyo-senpai well enough, or at least where he's going to school at." Haruhi mused, a sense of caution now starting to creep over the brunette as she watched him push off from his place on the tree and turn towards her.

The boy stared down at her, topaz eyes almost burning with suppressed irritation. "_He_. Huh, right." He scoffed while walking towards Haruhi's position, hands stuffed now into the pockets of his slacks. His strides were short, but strong, and he was soon standing before Haruhi just off a bit to her left. Even as he walked, his gaze never left her, and now it was literally barring down on her. However, his stare was easily matched as Haruhi refused to back down. "Unlike the rest of this school, I'm not fooled. Kyo has always been an interesting kid, but this goes way beyond anything I've seen or heard her do."

Haruhi's brow rose slowly as she listened to the boy speak, noting that he did indeed refer to Kyo as _her _and not _him_. "So...you do know Kyo-senpai." She mused quietly before looking over towards the gate entrance where at that moment, Uchiwa Kyo was walking through with school bag slung across from her left shoulder, hands tucked away in her pants' pockets. The older Sophomore looked almost obliviously to anything around her, but seemed to sense or other, that someone was staring at her as she looked up and met Haruhi's gaze. Watching her friend take notice of the boy beside her, Haruhi glanced over at him from the corner of her eye. "She's just arrived if you wanted to speak with her."

"Oi, Haruhi-kun." Kyo greeted the younger Freshman, blue-eyed gaze still hidden behind her glasses today for the last time, but holding a cold recognition to the boy standing nearby in the unknown school uniform. As Haruhi greeted her back in return, Kyo stopped just in front of the shorter girl and gave her a friendly smile while setting a hand atop her head. "Shouldn't you be in home room right now?" A nod from the brunette, and Kyo ruffled her hair, the smile ever present but her eyes betraying a far deeper emotion that even Haruhi had yet to see on her. The void look in Kyo's eyes caused a shiver to run down Haruhi's spine. "Okay. You better go before you're late. I'll see you at lunch period."

"Yeah. Sure." Haruhi replied while glancing out from underneath Kyo's hand at the boy who stared off at the large main building behind her, she couldn't help but grimace at the sick feeling that was starting to rise within her stomach. "See you later, Kyo-senpai." She muttered in a half-hearted manner as she turned to head off towards the high school building. "It was nice to meet you too, Senpai." She stated politely at the boy she had yet to learn the name of, even though she really didn't want to act so polite in the first place.

Both older students watched as Haruhi walked off, leaving them alone in the main courtyard as everyone else had since disappeared. A chill wind swept through the courtyard reminding the two that winter was only a few weeks away now as the last of the turned leaves spun about on the soft current and rifted between the two students who stood only a few feet from one another at the moment. The boy didn't even spare a glance into Kyo's direction, but already he could feel the wrath radiating about her and merely huffed in a muffled manner in response.

"So this is the 'house of the exile'?"

**Elsewhere...**

Haruhi stared out the window of her home room, gaze trying pin point on the front gates of the Academy where she had left behind Kyo and the unknown older boy who seemed to know Kyo almost personally. Something didn't sit right with her concerning the whole thing, and that look in Kyo's eye was even more unsettling. She had never seen that look in anyone's eyes before, it was almost inhuman in some way as it just seemed void of any real emotion. It had felt wrong to walk away and leave Kyo alone with that guy, but Haruhi had seen on more than one occasion as to just how capable Kyo was of taking care of herself in the presence of a very real threat. But this was something else entirely, and the way that guy had been acting, it just felt very wrong.

_I shouldn't have left her there with him. What if something happens? What if that guy hurts her and no one sees it? _Haruhi's grip on the pencil clasped within her fingers tightened at the thoughts and images running through her mind at that moment. Biting the corner of her lip, Haruhi forced herself to pay attention to the teacher and push those thoughts from her mind for the time being. _As soon as the bell rings, I'll go find Kyo. I'll see that she's okay, and that I had nothing to worry about after all. He's probably one of the cousins that she told me about. Yeah, that's got to be it._

Even though his attention was more focused on chewing the pale pink eraser on the end of his pencil, Hikaru noticed from the corner of his eye, the worried and almost impatient look on Haruhi's face. His right brow raised a bit in response as he started to look over at her. _What's bugging her all of a sudden? Haruhi never looks this anxious in home room. _Frowning a bit, Hikaru started to lean over to tap the brunette on the shoulder, but the muffled sounds coming from the hallway cut in, causing the whole classroom to look towards the door as it was suddenly flung open by a student from a different class. "The hell?" Hikaru murmured while scowling at the rather rude entrance.

"Sensei, sorry, but there's a fight going on out in the main courtyard!" The student announced in a hurried manner, earning in response to this, the many taken back gasps coming from the students of 1-A.

Haruhi's body went stiff while her heart began to race quickly, the pencil snapping in half from the over applied pressure of her fingers. _Kyo!_


	17. Shocking News!

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

_**Shocking News! Battle in the House of the Exile!**_

"What was that?"

"There's a fight outside in the main courtyard!"

"A fight? How barbaric! Someone should get a teacher."

"No way! A fight in the courtyard? Who's fighting?"

"You're kidding! Uchiwa-senpai is fighting someone?! Cool!"

"WHAT?!" Tamaki shot up from his seat in class, hands having come down harshly upon the top of his desk in a loud smack while his fingers now dug into the polished dark cherry colored wood. Looking over at the empty seat that was usually occupied by the sleepy eyed Kyo, Tamaki started to panic and not just in his usual over dramatic way that many in the Host Club got a crack out of watching. His face had lost a bit of its color, and his usually smiling amethyst eyes were now wide, the pupil small at the middle of that soft color.

The student who had rushed in, announcing the event taking place outside, stood frozen in the doorway with a sense of regret now creeping over him as he suddenly remembered that this was in fact the class of Uchiwa Kyo, the very same student who happened to be out in the courtyard amidst a fight. Kyoya, although showing it on the outside, was actually a tad upset over hearing this news as it would not bode well for the image of the Host Club. Adjusting the pair of glasses that had slipped down to sit perched upon his nose, Kyoya stood up from his seat and walked out from behind his desk.

"Tamaki, let's go see if it's true or not. It's possible that someone just mistook another student for Kyo." Kyoya pointed out while clapping his blonde friend on the shoulder as he headed for the door. _And if it is Kyo, then we're going to have to sit that bit of trouble down and explain to her what it means to represent the Host Club even during non-club hours._ A rather frustrated scowl crossed Kyoya's face at that moment, and it sent the boy at the door scrambling to get out of the way.

Word spread quickly, and within only a half hour's time, students were starting to peer out their class windows or even milling out of the school buildings themselves in order to see if this rumored fight was indeed true or not. However, the first to round the front corner of the main courtyard were set still in their place as they spotted an array of red stain splattered off on the white cobblestone of the paved front walkway. "No way." One of the students whimpered upon seeing such a disturbing sight, eyes wide and face pale. "Is that really blood?"

From around the other front corner, several more students appeared to see if this fight was for real, and they too froze as the red stain on the ground was the first thing they saw. These students were apart of the Kendo Club, who were having an early practice session instead of attending home room, and even this was a bit extreme to see in the midst of Ouran school grounds. "You have got to be kidding me, right? This is a joke." One of the boys stammered while swallowing hard and looking around the courtyard for supposedly, Uchiwa Kyo.

"Holy...! Over there!" Someone shouted while pointing off towards the massive water fountain that sat in the branching courtyard off to the right of the front gates.

From over the water fountain a dark shape spun out and hit the top of the water spout and then plummeted to the ground at a sharp angle, striking the hard cobblestone without any attempt to stop the horrible landing. It was of course a body, dressed in the boy's uniform of the High School sect of Ouran Academy, and the dark hair was almost a dead giveaway to the identity of who it was. Rolling a few times after striking the ground, the dark haired student slowly pushed up to their feet, stopping only at a kneeling position as it seemed to be just too much to be asked of at that moment.

It was in fact, Uchiwa Kyo who had been thrown over the water fountain and was now just struggling to even catch a breathe. Blood had crept its way down from her hairline along the right temple and traced over the side of her face and came to follow the curve of her jawline, dripping off at the tip of her chin. The small blood droplets paused a moment at her chin before releasing themselves and hitting the pavement like rain. Her bottom lip was busted and red, a cut was under her left eye and glaring red as it had not been a deep enough gash to actually bleed like the one on her temple, but it had clotted nonetheless as skin had been broken. Breathing in staggered intakes, Kyo could feel her body shaking as she now commanded it to stand up all the way.

_Dammit! I didn't think he was really that serious about this. Shit. Come on Kyo, stand up! This is nothing compared to the last time he threw you through the wringer! _Up on her feet, Kyo's left hand curled into a tight fist, squeezing as it sought to hold as much unforgiving force in its grasp as possible as it appeared that her right arm had been rendered useless at the moment. Hanging almost limp at her side, Kyo's right arm was not broken thankfully as she had managed to avoid that rather painful strike, but was temporarily in a state of paralysis as the specific nerves and muscle cells had been hit with near perfect precision.

"At least this time, you made it passed the first stage of the fight, and you even managed to avoid that very blow you succumbed to the last time." The boy that Haruhi had encountered at the gates of the school, walked out from around the fountain, a dark shadow hovering over the top half of his face as he came to stand before the fountain and faced the rather banged up Kyo. "Even still, you are an embarrassment to the Uchiwa name!" He snarled as a scowl twisted across his face, those topaz colored eyes of his looking rather feral as he stared Kyo down.

"Look whose talking!" Kyo shot back, her own gaze matching the ferocity of his. "You come to my school, continue to call me an 'exile', and attack me on school grounds! No my friend, you are the one who is the embarrassment to the Uchiwa name, Kira!" She snapped before crouching slightly in her stance, knees bending just enough so that as he body turned just a bit to the side, she retained a strong sense of balance.

Kira, the boy dressed in what looked like a foreign uniform with the dark brown hair and topaz colored eyes, curled either hand into a fist as a rather cruel look crossed his face in response to Kyo's statement of defense for herself. "That maybe, but at least I'm not pretending to be something that I'm not." He snickered before vanishing from her line of sight, leaving Kyo on the high state of alert before appearing behind her with right hand pulled up over his head at an angle and began bringing it down for the spot at the back of her neck. His every intention was to knock her out and deal a rather decent amount of physical damage at the same time.

Unbeknown to Kira though, since the last time the two had tangled like this almost four years ago, Kyo's own fighting abilities had grown and the younger member of the family had seemingly developed a sixth sense of sorts that now became a huge benefit to her safety. Feeling his presence behind her, Kyo waited only for the first second in which she assumed would be the launching point of his initial attack, and then slid her left leg forward while right bent at the knee completely.

Her whole body swooped low to the ground and the hit meant to completely knock her out sliced through the air above her and managed only to take a few of the long strands of her dark hair as it shot forward. It seemed as though time and the flow of the fight was moving slowly for the two involved, but on the outside of the fight, those who had started to show up and crowd around on the far edge of things, and pretty much hang out the windows of the classrooms, the two were moving at what seemed like inhuman speeds.

Grabbing hold of Kira's wrist as it passed overhead, Kyo clamped down tightly with her good hand and twisted the appendage with a quick jerk while leaning forward on her extended leg, putting her weight forward. All in one rather quick movement, Kyo had started to stand with her back right foot now planted squarely in the middle of Kira's chest and pushing up. This picked the older boy up off his feet at the same time he was being pulled forward. And what could only be described as a move straight out of the Tekken games, Kyo flipped forward taking Kira with her, and then slammed him down on his back with her foot literally stomping into his ribcage at the same time before pushing off and jumping forward to land about ten feet from where she had laid out Kira.

The amount of pressure that Kyo had stomped down on his chest did not go without having left any damage, as the brunette choked once before coughing up blood as he sat up. Spitting the red copper tasting liquid from his mouth, and leaving yet another stain upon the white cobblestone, Kira ran the back of his hand across the front of his mouth while crossing his other arm over the throbbing spot on his chest that pumped a decent amount of pain through his body. "Not bad. And here I thought you'd never learn anything more than what Grandpa taught you." Kira spat as he pushed himself up off the ground. Coughing a few more times, and wincing at each one, Kira leaned backwards, hands on his hips, and the pop of his back realigning cracked loud enough for the closest students to hear and cringe in response.

Kyo's blue eyes widened a bit while still retaining the threatening look within their depths. _Shit. I should have known he would get better too. At least this time I left a mark on him that he can't deny this time. Kira, you arrogant bastard! What the hell made you leave Italy and come back home? I know it wasn't because you had the trifle thought to beat me up. _"Kira! I don't know what it was that made you leave your studies in Italy, but why come here to Ouran and beat on me? Were you that bored?" Kyo sneered at the last bit that left her mouth, sarcasm dripping from her words like liquid venom.

"Pft. You really think, that you would mean that much to me, that I would come almost halfway across the world just to beat the crap out of you again? Ha! You are full of yourself little '_cousin_'." Kira spoke through clenched teeth before pulling his body into a readied stance, his every muscle twitching now in anticipation to their next moves.

As the fight between the two Uchiwa continued on, setting all who watched it in a state of frozen fear at the fact that this fight was shedding blood, the first members of the Ouran High Host Club appeared. Hunny and Mori had gotten wind of the fight before anyone else in the club thanks in part to the fact that Mori's younger brother was apart of the Kendo Club, and word had spread from them as one of their own had spotted the fight first. Riding atop his towering cousin's shoulders as always, Hunny held tight to his Usa-chan while looking very much disturbed by the news of a fight involving Kyo. As they rounded the corner, Mori slid to a rather smooth stop just in time to watch as both Kyo and someone else they had no knowledge of lung forward at one another. Hunny's fingers dug into the soft pink fabric of his stuffed toy as he watched a battered friend race forward willingly into a fight, the look in her eyes even sending a chill through the small Senior's body.

The left fist of Kyo struck down at her older cousin, who threw up his own right forearm to block the blow taking the full force of what had been meant for possibly his face. Smirking in response to avoiding the attack, Kira's initial expression changed immediately as he caught from the corner of his eye, the black clad right leg of Kyo sweeping towards the side of his face to nail him in the temple. _Damn this kid! Who taught her?! Grandpa? Uncle? _Kira's left arm shot up and connected with the kick, holding it away from his temple by only a few inches, but even still he could feel the small concussion in wake of the attack itself. _If I don't keep my guard up, she's going to take my head off. _A scowl crawled across Kira's face as he finally acknowledge the fact that Kyo was coming dangerously close to landing what could be a finishing blow.

"No way." Tamaki muttered as he watched from his place beside Kyoya after they entered the courtyard right behind Hunny and Mori. Seeing the initial blows that Kyo had tried to land on the boy she was fighting, Tamaki felt as though the entire bottom of his stomach had just dropped out, especially at the sight of red liquid ribbons running down that one side of her face that he could see. "This...this isn't like when those weirdos came into the club. This is...this is cruel." Tamaki whispered hoarsely, hands clenching at his sides. "Kyo...Kyo is...Kyo is..."

"BASTARD!" Kyo snarled while going along with the force of Kira's shove that pushed her off from the halted position he had locked her in. Using the force of his shove, Kyo twisted her body into a back flip and landed on the balls of her feet in a crouched position but slid a few feet from her first point of landing. Coming to a stop, Kyo glanced down at her right arm as the feeling was starting to return to it. _Good! The more advanced stages of the paralysis has passed, and even with the little that I know, I can bring my arm back into almost full use. _Smirking to herself quietly, Kyo reached over towards the direct middle of her bicep, and with a quick jab of two fingers, the Sophomore could feel her muscle tighten and then relax. Two more strikes in the similar proximity, and Kyo found that she could now make a fist with her right hand.

Kira sneered as he watched his young cousin stand to her feet and flex her right arm. "About time." He spat, a clot of red blood hitting the cobblestone in a rather gruesome splatter as he pushed up the sleeves of his uniform jacket and the dress shirt beneath it.

In response to her cousin's gestures, Kyo could read the end of this fight. Her glasses were useless to her now as they had fogged up a bit, and the corrective lenses just made her vision all together blurry as her eyes had been knocked straight by the several blows she had taken already. Her slender fingers grasped the wire frame of her glasses, and held them tightly even as they were removed from her face. Both Uchiwa seemed to sense that this was where their fight was about to end, and thus they moved forward towards one another as quickly as they were both capable of. The whole courtyard had gone quiet with the intake of held breathes, the students watching as the two pushed off on a running step and launched themselves at one another through a jump across the remaining expanse that separated them.

At that moment, Haruhi came running out from the opposite corner where a good handful of other students from the various classes were gathered. Pushing her way through the crowd, Haruhi burst out in front and stopped as she spotted the two forms literally soaring through the air at one another. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, the sight of dark red spotting the soft color of the courtyard, the feral look of rage in Kyo's expression, it all came together in a mix that struck not just Haruhi, but also the twin brothers who had pushed their way up to the front of the crowd as well.

"No way!" Hikaru muttered while looking about the courtyard, his golden gaze widening as well upon seeing the dark haired girl he had given such a hard time pushing through the expanse separating her from some other guy he had never seen before. "Kyo-san..."

Kaoru stared, jaw dropped and speechless. Having no existing knowledge of how a fight works, or how to even read the movements of fighters, the Hitachiin felt a horrible overwhelming sense over take him at the sight before them all. _Someone's not walking away from this!_

Pulling her right hand back and clenching it in a fist, the wire spoke of her glasses snapping under the building pressure and dropping back down to earth, Kyo's left arm came up across her chest and aligned level with her shoulders as the only attempt of defense in case her punch was blocked or evaded all together. Kira's own movements matched hers, his own right arm pulling down at the elbow and hand curling into a fist while his left arm mimicked the same movement as his right instead preparing a defense.

"EXILE!"

"TAKE IT BACK!"

Both threw their punch forward as they were now in range.

Not even conscious of her own actions, Haruhi broke from the edge of the crowd and ran forward towards the fight, her legs carrying her as fast as they could push her. Her dead run caught Hikaru and Kaoru off-guard, but both boys gave chase, knowing that if she got anywhere near that fight, Haruhi would be hurt. "Oi! Haruhi! Don't go near them!" Hikaru shouted while running to catch up with her, his brother following closely behind him.

Seeing Haruhi, the older boys of the Host Club perked up on their side of the courtyard. Tamaki felt panic rise through him as he looked between Haruhi and Kyo, both girls, both of his friends, both were about to be hurt horribly, and yet...he couldn't move from where he stood. Fear had rooted him to the cement, and even the shouts from Kyoya at his side calling out for Haruhi to turn away couldn't will the 'King of the Host Club' to move. _Haruhi! Kyo! _

"Kyo-senpai!" Haruhi called out to her only female friend in the whole student body of Ouran Academy, her concern and worry on the dark haired Sophomore with no regard to her own safety. Time just seemed to drag on, and even though she knew she was running as fast as possible across the courtyard, it felt as though lead weights were dragging her back. The shouts and calls from the other members of the Host Club deaf upon her ears. However, as Haruhi continued on, her eyes spotted a glint in the air back behind Kyo. The pair of glasses. Her brown eyes watched the twisted frames free fall to the pavement in a slowly winding dance, before hitting the ground and shattering.

At the same time, both Kyo and Kira was thrown to the ground almost face first and kept there while either right arm was twisted back behind them and used to help in pinning them. The wind was knocked out of both cousins as their chests collided with the unforgiving pavement.

"Uh, what the hell...?" Kira wheezed while trying to look back up behind himself at whoever it was that had gotten in the middle of the fight and stopped the last blow.

Above them, sitting in a knelt position between either Uchiwa, Mori held them by the wrist keeping their arms twisted behind their backs ending the fight then and there before either one knocked the other into a hospitalized state. His usually placid gaze was rather intense as he stared down at both of them, more so on Kira than Kyo. "This stops here before either one of you further dishonors your family names." He ordered, tone as even as always, but there was a cold edge to his words that even Kira found he needed to heed.

Wincing from both being thrown to the ground, and the other injuries upon her body, Kyo slowly opened her blue eyes she had shut in response to hitting the ground. Slowly, the rest of the world was coming in to focus, and the frightened looks from three very familiar faces landed in front of her as Haruhi came sliding in towards her and was down on her knees before her. "Kyo-senpai!"

"Haruhi-kun?" Kyo grunted out, her voice just reaching above a whisper as she spoke. The other two panicked faces of the Hitachiin twins arrived on either side of Haruhi, although they chose to remain standing. "Hikaru? Kaoru?"

"Paper fan-senpai! What the hell is wrong with you?! You know fighting on school grounds, at any educational facility for that matter, is against the rules! You'll be kicked out!" Hikaru snapped between his wheezing attempts in catching his breathe while leaning forward with hands planted upon the tops of his knees.

Kaoru stood exactly like his brother, desperately trying to catch his breathe and looking just as flustered and frightened as anyone. "Kyo-senpai, why?"

The looks on their faces struck Kyo hard, forcing the now rather ashamed girl to look away from them as she just couldn't answer the question. Seeing this, Kira watched in silence for a moment, the fire and mocking sneer now gone from his whole visage before he too looked away and off elsewhere only to meet the infuriated gaze of the shortest Senior he would ever encounter in his life. Hunny stood on the other side of Kira, his unforgiving gaze bearing down on him as he seemed to contemplate what to say or even do to the unknown boy that had beaten Kyo and forced her into a fight.

"KYO!"

The twins glanced back over their shoulders to watch as their 'king' came running up, his face having lost a few shades of color, and his amethyst gaze having lost a bit of its luster at the moment as he approached looking as though he were at a loss for something to say. Pausing behind Haruhi, Tamaki stared down at the rather ashamed Kyo who wouldn't even look up at him and kept her gaze elsewhere.

"My, my, look at the two of you. You're certainly a mess." Kyoya exhaled in a rather forced manner to sound calm and unmoved by what he had witnessed along with everyone else."Mori-senpai," He paused a moment while looking down at both Kyo and the boy he had never seen before, his dark eyed gaze showing a mix of several emotions as he cleared his throat, "I believe you can let them up now. I don't think either one of them will restart their feud at this point."

Nodding, Mori started to stand up, his grip not once loosening on Kyo and Kira as he even pulled them up on to their feet, only releasing them as soon as he was all the way up to his full height to tower over them. Letting go, he kept a close on eye on both, knowing that whatever it had taken to start their fight in the first place could flare up at any point.

While Kyo adjusted her jacket from its scrunched and shoved positions, she grimaced with each movement taken as her body was now starting to bruise and feel the blows she had taken at the hands of her cousin. Reaching up to pull her tie back around to rest beneath the pyramid formation her shirt collar made, Kyo was a bit surprised to see that Haruhi was set directly in front of her, even now while standing up. The younger Freshman appeared to be very much upset by what had transpired, and it made it harder for Kyo to even force herself to look at her friend.

As both girls started to speak at once, they were cut off immediately by Kyoya. "Neh, Haruhi, why don't you and the twins take Kyo-san to the club room to clean up?" He suggested while giving both Hikaru and Kaoru commanding looks that even they obeyed at this point as they nodded in agreement to this. Waving off the startled look given by Kyo at this, Kyoya shook his head. "Please, Kyo-san, just go with them."

There wasn't even much of an argument from the blue-eyed Sophomore, who barely nodded although her jaw was clenched tightly. Hikaru took the initiative and led the way, noting to the fact that the courtyard had emptied with only a few students peeking out through the school windows. Haruhi stuck to Kyo's right side like her shadow as they walked behind Hikaru, Kaoru bringing up the rear even though he had hung back a moment to give Kyoya a rather questioning look.

"Kaoru-kun, please make sure that Kyo-san goes directly to the club room and nowhere else." Kyoya instructed, what he considered at times to be the better half of the twin misfits, and then glanced over at Tamaki and the two older members of the club. "We'd like to speak with Kyo-san's..._"friend"_ for a moment." He explained to the unasked question that he knew Kaoru had yet to actually speak out.

"Okay." Kaoru nodded, his amber gaze glaring only momentarily at the boy who Kyo had been fighting before he ran off to catch up with his brother and friends.

Waiting for a moment to make sure that the small group escorting Kyo to the Third Music Room was well on their way, Kyoya ran a hand through his hair and then turned to face the unnamed boy that was somewhat surrounded by the other three _hosts_. "Now, it is apparent that you seem to know Kyo rather well. But what I, or should I say, we would like to know," Kyoya spoke in a cool tone, even though he had to bite down on his own tongue to keep from lashing out at this guy, "Just how do you know Uchiwa Kyo, and why were you fighting?"

Grunting in response while folding his arms over his chest, Kira smirked while showing no regard to any of the guys standing around him. "Yeah, I know Kyo. She's my cousin...and my fiance."


	18. Trouble is a Tea Brewed Cold

_**Chapter Eighteen**_

_**Trouble is a Tea Brewed Cold, and Boils at the End**_

"Ow!" Kyo squirmed in her seat, face screwing up in a grimace as a rather bitter sting sent what felt like fire crawling across her entire left cheek. However, her pitiful cry found no sympathy from either of the three Freshman attending to her at the moment, and their disapproving stares merely agitated the dark haired Sophomore who ceased to squirm but held a rather sour look on her face. Arms tucking in over her chest stubbornly as she submitted herself to the process of having the injuries inflicted upon her during the fight cleaned and bandaged.

Haruhi frowned. "You were just tossed about, beaten, and put someone else on the receiving end as well, but I barely even touch you with an alcohol swab and you flinch?" She had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at her older friend, but the tone of her voice was strict enough to even cause the twins to cringe and sit still in their own seats along with Kyo.

Between the time that the fight was ended by the intervention of Mori, to now, it had been almost an hour and word had more than likely leaked all throughout Ouran about the fight. The superintendent was more than likely in the know, and that in of itself could spell big trouble for Kyo than what was probably apparent to them all. But for now, the small group of four were tucked away within the Third Music Room that acted as the club room for the Host Club. Kyo had been immediately seated on the plush velvet couch at the center of the room while Haruhi grabbed a chair from the nearby tea table and set herself before the battered Uchiwa.

Kaoru had been sent off to fetch the first aid kit from the storage room where the club supplies where kept, returning almost in the blink of an eye with the large red square box labeled neatly with bright white letters. As soon as the kit had been set down on the tea table, it was cracked open and the simplest of the medical pieces were fished out and Haruhi went to work. The cuts on Kyo's face were bleeding, slowly, but it was enough of a sight to make both Hikaru and Kaoru a bit uncomfortable. Bruises were beginning to show up on Kyo's skin, the black, blue, green, and purple spectrum standing out against her soft flesh tone, one growing especially out around her right eye in a halo.

Hikaru winced as he stared at the various cuts and bruises, cringing along with Kyo with each swipe of the swab as he could only imagine the sting and what it took to put those cuts there in the first place. "What's that guy's problem with you anyways?!" The older of the infamous duo nearly snapped as his own frustration, whether he wanted to admit it or not, over Kyo's beating was starting to eat away at him.

Kyo's chin was snatched as soon as she tried to glance over at Hikaru's direction, and the baeful chocolate gaze of one Fujioka Haruhi, almost caused the blood in the dark haired girl's body freeze. "Move again, and the next '_ow_' that comes out of your mouth won't be in response to alcohol sting." Her tone of voice was smooth, cool, and far too placid to even be a joke.

Luckily enough, Kyo was rather smart when it came to picking up the small hints in cryptic (and in this case threatening) words, and merely stared at the younger Freshman with rather wide and almost fearful eyes as she registered a sense of consent to whatever Haruhi meant. A quiet exhale, and Haruhi began the gentle process of disinfecting Kyo's injuries, leaving Kyo to answer Hikaru's question without sparring a glance. "That '_guy_', is Uchiwa Kira, my cousin. In fact, he's the oldest out of all my cousins."

There was a rather creepy sort of silence that the chirping of crickets was absent from, along with the normal ominous far off distant howl of a coyote, that settled in the room and Kyo could feel a slow bead of sweat slip down the side of her face. The silence lasted only a mere few seconds before all three Freshman exploded in a unanimous - "**WHAT?!**"

_Elsewhere on school grounds..._

Whether or not it mattered, especially since he knew what this Kira guy was capable of, the blonde '_king_' of the Ouran High Host Club managed to suffocate his boiling anger as he sat fuming on the whitewashed bench of the tea garden gazebo that he and the others had relocated to. As usual, it was Kyoya who had stepped in and ushered all of them off to a more secluded part of the campus grounds, not wanting the whole academy to know the details of not only the fight itself, but possibly a deeper part of Uchiwa Kyo's background.

Sitting to Tamaki's right was the ever placid Kyoya, the overly tranquil look on his face only further pushed the irritated look in his eyes to a very chilling degree as he stared across the small expanse between them and Uchiwa Kira. On Tamaki's right sat the smallest of the Host Club members, his small legs refraining from the usual swing that they normally played with as they angled over the edge of anything a bit too high up from the ground. And looming from Hunny' side over everyone else, arms tucked across his chest, Mori stared like the others.

The tension, even in the open aired surroundings of the gazebo, smothered everyone in a choking hold that would have had Kira squirming had it not been for the fact that his ego wouldn't allow it. Even though it was very much clear that the Uchiwa cousin was in no place to be tossing about an arrogant ego of any kind, he still found it rather difficult to act in submission beneath the glowering stares of four boys of equal social status to himself, especially after he had not but near twenty minutes ago been tossing around their friend. Running a hand through his dark chocolate colored hair, Kira winced suddenly as the tip of his index finger grazed a hidden cut amongst his thick locks. _Damn that kid. She got strong, really fast. But those moves, that resistance to backing down from me, where did that come from? Grandpa's stubborn and he did teach Kyo a good deal of what she knows...but what the hell man?! It's like she picked up an entirely different style!_

"Well now." Kyoya cleared his throat, catching hold of all attention to his general direction as he spoke. "We are far from prying eyes and snooping ears, and for the time being, we are also safe from the interogation of the faculty. So, how about you start explaining yourself, Uchiwa-san." His tone of voice was cool and collected, but hidden behind the lenses of the wire rimmed glasses perched upon the bridge of his nose was a dark ember smoldering on the brink of complete flare up within the depths of his grey eyes. The last time Ohtori Kyoya had felt such a sense of building rage, actual pure and unadulterated rage, or at least something close to it was when he had first met Tamaki and was sent through a wringer of what could have been described as torturous events. Somehow though, Kyoya had been affected by the fight, seeing the battered mess that Kyo had been reduced to...that pissed him off. But at the same time, seeing the mess that Kyo had left her cousin Kira in, that somehow made him...proud.

"Uh, yeah." Kira muttered while rubbing the palms of his hands across the tops of his knees, eyes now staring down at his feet and the whitewashed wooden boards of the gazebo flooring. "Kyo and I, well, we have a rather complicated relationship with one another, excluding the fact that she's my fiance." It was small, and almost missed, but it was caught by only one pair of eyes as he winced at that last word rolling off his tongue. "Every time we're in the same vicinity, all it takes is the exchange of a few stupid words on either part, and we end up beating each other senseless. It's been that way since I was sixteen and she was ten. That was the same time I found out we were engaged." There was a tone of near bitterness as he spoke, eyes now boring holes into the floor.

Tamaki sat up, jaw dropped, eyes rather wide while his left brow pushed down in a twisted gesture of shock. _This is completely ridiculous! The two beat the near life out of each other after uttering 'hello' to one another, and their engaged?! How?! Who does something like that nowadays?! _"How can you even begin to call yourself her fiance, when you fight her in what looks like all out death matches?! Not only that, she's your cousin!" Tamaki's tone of voice rose a level with each passing second in which he spoke aloud, teeth gritting at the very end.

A quick flash of momentary anger seared across Kira's dark gaze as he looked up at the tall blonde, hands gripping at the material of his uniform trousers, nails digging into the flesh of his kneecap beneath the flannel stripped patterns. "I know that!" He snapped. "It's not like I enjoy fighting with her every time we see each other!"

Flushing red with anger, Tamaki shot up to his full height, hands balled at his sides as he leered at the supposed finace and cousin of Kyo. However, as his mouth dropped open to spew forth a possible torrent of vented frustration, he was cut off by Kyoya's interference, the dark haired boy's hand grabbing hold of Tamaki's wrist and dragging him back down to his seat. The amethyst glare accusing the Ohtori boy with redirected anger. Again, Kyoya silenced his blonde friend, holding up a hand for his silence while keeping a steady gaze upon Kira the whole time.

"Uchiwa-san, how did the two of you become engaged at such a young age exactly?" Kyoya questioned, pushing for further answers as he could see and even hear the bitterness brewing just on the edge of each word that Kira spoke in his own sort of self defense. There was something being kept from everyone, and he had feeling that it started with Kyo herself.


	19. The Killing Tale

**Authors Note: **_To all my faithful and loyal readers, I'd like apologize for such a lengthy pause in my usually quick updates on my Ouran fic. As was pointed out by _**_bringme2life_**_ in their comment, yes indeed I am busy. Been working forty hours a week for the majority of this passed month. HOWEVER! I do want to assure all of you that I do have the whole storyline for this particular piece of fiction planned out all the way to the end _

_I only hope you can be patient with me and forgive small pathetic chapters like this past one (sighs in mild disapproval of oneself with said last chapter)._

_PS, I want to thank you all for sticking so closely to my fanfiction, your comments left behind telling me of your enjoyment and delight in my first Ouran story is of great encouragement to me and inspires me to continue pushing ahead! Thank you all!_

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

_**The Killing Tale**_

Haruhi sighed quietly, feeling a sense of relief come over her as sat back and admired her handy work. Every cut had been cleaned and treated with antibacterial cleanser to stave off any sort infection, and thus the various sized bandages that now covered what seemed like a good majority of Kyo. The older Sophomore sat on the couch, eyes trying to stare down her nose at the white strip arching over the bridge, her cross-eyed look making her look more like a small child than a sixteen-year-old heir to one of Japan's wealthiest families. A small grin tugged at the corner of Haruhi's mouth as she turned in her seat to begin putting away the untouched items that she had taken out of the first-aid kit.

"Paper fan-senpai, you look like a mummy the Egyptians half-assed." Hikaru snickered behind his hand, eyes angling upwards while his mouth pulled into a cheeky Cheshire grin. Kaoru snickered as well beside him, his own hand meekly hiding the massive grin on his own face, while nodding vigorously in agreement to Hikaru's comment.

"What was that?!" Kyo hissed while shooting straight up in her seat on the coach, eyes narrowed like a feral cat, or more so like a battered feral cat. The proverbial tail and ears ever so apparent on her as she glared threatened physical pain upon the twins, hackles raised and everything while wincing mentally at her own jarring movements but never loosing her appearance.

Haruhi exhaled a heavy sigh over her lips, head tilting slightly askew as the bickering had only just begun, a bead of sweat forming at her right temple. _Apparently her injuries aren't as bad as I thought they were. Worried for no reason. _"Somehow I know my hair will turn grey long before it should." She mumbled quietly while closing the lid of the first-aid kit.

"Lazy mummy!" The combined voices of the Hitachiin boys rang out through the club room in a singsong tone.

"Diabolical cretins!" Kyo snapped back, now completely aggravated with their cheeky grins and swaying mannerisms as they teased her appearance.

"Patch job!" Hikaru shot back.

"Brat!" Kyo snarled.

"Zebra!" Kaoru chimed in.

"Hell spawn!"

All three were now growling at one another, electrical currents running between their stares as they were up out of their seats to face off with one another. Hikaru and Kaoru stood side by side to team up against Kyo like they did against everyone else, only, instead of only doing it out of spite and to annoy their opponents, they were actually having real fun teasing the blue-eyed Sophomore. However, the fun was short lived as Kyo faulted, near blinding pain stuck her through the side of the ribs. The aching bits of her body that were now retaliating against her sudden and extreme movements dug in what felt like horrid claws of steely fire, sending the dark haired girl cringing back and wrapping her arms about throbbing ribs.

The twin sets of amber colored eyes blinked twice in small confusion loosing their glare completely as they watched Kyo slowly sink back down on to the crushed velvet confines of the couch, her face twisted in a contorted mess of forced assurance, rebellion to the angry pain, and complete misery as she slumped down in a half sprawled manner. "Dammit." She wheezed through a staggered breath, left eye scrunching closed out of natural response.

"Kyo!" Haruhi bolted from her seat and was at the side of the couch in only a split second, her brow furrowed with worry while she reached out a tensive hand towards Kyo's shoulder. "What hurts? Do you need me to get someone?!"

"No, I'm fine." Kyo mumbled, her face now half buried into the seat cushions while her teeth grit in an attempt to fight back against the slowly dissipating pain. "I think my ribs might be bruised. It's nothing serious. Honest."

Kyo's assurances did little to convince the three Freshman hovering over her. Hikaru and Kaoru were nearly frozen solid with a sense of fear prickling along the back of their necks after watching the normally stubborn and seemingly invincible Uchiwa Kyo sink away in pain. Even now, they seemed just as concerned as Haruhi was, their normally selfish and aloof attitudes having disappeared rather abruptly. Watching Kyo almost wither was rather unnerving, and neither one knew exactly what they should do in such a situation.

"Um, Haruhi, maybe we should go find the guys." Hikaru spoke up, eyes almost yelling his proposal. "Kyoya will know what we should do, or even get her to one of his family's hospitals."

"Yeah, good idea." Haruhi agreed, rising quickly.

Kyo turned her head and glanced up through the fallen bangs that were slithering about her face based upon her movements. "I said I'm fine." She groaned, only further provoking Haruhi's walk towards the club door, Hikaru trailing after her. "Haruhi! Don't go looking for them!"

"Uchiwa Kyo!"

All eyes were immediately on the until recently still form Kaoru, who looked completely flustered with what was going on. The younger of the twins started to burn red along the tops of his cheeks, and his amber colored gaze somehow kept fastened upon the slumped over Kyo with a rather intense look. "You're not fine! That psycho cousin of yours nearly beat you into unconsciousness, you need to go to a hospital and be checked out!" Stomping his foot to further add to his point, Kaoru turned to look at his brother and Haruhi. "What are you waiting for? Get going! The sooner you two find Kyoya-senpai and the other, the sooner we can get her stubborn self to a doctor!" Kaoru's voice echoed within the club room, the fiery singe to his words rather shocking to his brother and only two '_female friends_'.

For a brief few seconds the room fell quiet, the awkward silence only breaking when Kyo righted in her seat and pointed at Kaoru with a blank look on her face. "Are you sure you're not Hikaru?" That remark earned her a swift knock across the top of her head from the standing redhead. Clutching the spot like some small child having been disciplined by a parent, Kyo looked up at Kaoru with small tear pools having formed at the outside corner of either eye while looking incredibly angry at the same time. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"Would you guys just go already!!" Kaoru snapped, sending both Haruhi and Hikaru slipping out the door as quickly as possible in response to a rarely seen side of the normally calm and collected Kaoru. As soon as the door shut, he released a kept breath in a deep exhale, his gaze drifting down to the now sulking Kyo who had managed to sit back in the couch and crossed her arms gingerly over her waist as she was forced to wait the return of the missing members to the Host Club. "Now who's the child?" Kaoru muttered while flopping down in a near gentle manner on the other end of the couch, only half a cushion space separating him and Kyo.

"What was that?!" Kyo's cat appearance frazzling out again as she hissed accusingly at him.

Kaoru's mouth pursed as his brow furrowed, his gaze disapproving of Kyo's reaction and then found himself sighing almost within the same moment as the Sophomore almost toppled again with her jarring movements. "Would you knock it off already? You're going to tear something!" He reprimanded but panicked all the same as he twisted in his seat to try and face her completely, arms hesitantly raised as if ready to snatch from a possible fall from the couch. "Seriously, just sit still. You're gonna give me a heart attack." Kaoru muttered.

Sitting back once again, conceding to Kaoru's rather obvious observation on her continuous moving about, Kyo exhaled through her nose quietly while glancing off towards the door. _I give it ten maybe fifteen minutes tops, before Tamaki comes breaking down the door like a worried mother whose child has been missing for only a moment in a department store. _Again, Kyo sighed as she managed to conjure up a rather accurate vision of what she was going to happen at a later period in the day. The frantic and babbling Suoh Tamaki in her mind caused the dark haired Uchiwa to grin slightly while leaning back into the overstuffed body of the couch.

"What's so funny?" Kaoru curiously asked, having of course caught the quick grin that pulled at Kyo's mouth. His left brow pulled up in an arch as he stared over at her.

Shaking her head slowly, Kyo shrugged. "Nothing really." However, even the comical fretting of Tamaki wasn't enough to keep her mind from retracing back to the fight...to her cousin...to Uchiwa Kira..._What the hell was he doing here anyways?! _

"Uh, Kyo-senpai, what exactly started to fight anyways?" Kyo's absence of a response caused Kaoru to frown. He had only known Kyo for nearly six months, almost seven, and like everyone else (maybe excluding Tamaki to a degree) knew when Kyo had spaced out into her own little world blocking out everything and everyone else. Frowning, Kaoru reached over and poked at Kyo's shoulder and immediately had a set of royal blue eyes upon him. "Did you hear me?"

Kyo stared at him for a moment before nodding as she looked away and stared down at her lap. "It's just always been like that with the two of us ever since we were kids. Now that I come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure what it was that started the very first fight between us." She mused, a curious look playing around with her face. "The first fight we had was back when I had just turned ten. Kira was sixteen at the time, I think. It was just one of the usual family gatherings at my grandparent's home, and when I ran into Kira there, he looked like he had been crying or was just really upset, I couldn't tell. But I remember that he gave me this weird look and then said it was my fault before calling me an '_exile_', and then he swung."

_Elsewhere – KIRA'S SIDE OF THE STORY..._

"My parents told me when I was sixteen, that Kyo and I were engaged. My aunt and uncle had talked with them about it for a while apparently, and by the time I found out, that was when it had been finalized." Kira explained, the heavy look upon his face was enough of a tell-tell sign for anyone. "When they told me, I was confused at first, and then I just got angry after that, yelling at them; telling them that it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard." A bitter look crossed Kira's face as he could hear himself screaming at his parents all over again in his mind. "They told me it was to make sure that when the time came, Kyo would inherit the Uchiwa fortune without any legal problems or delays. It helps keep those outside the true root of the family from grabbing hold of any important assets and run them into the ground with inexperience and greed."

Hunny scratched the side of his head as it tilted to the side in an owlish manner, his face puckering in a sour expression of confusion to this. "Why would there be problems? Kyo is the only child to her parents, she's the only heir for the main house, isn't she?" The small blonde pointed out, making it known of the small extent his knowledge to the Uchiwa family fell within. The others nodded to this as it was a sort of common piece of fact that they knew about Kyo.

Kira nodded as well, agreeing to Hunny's statement. "She is, but not by blood, only through name." He replied slowly, watching to see the reaction of each boy as one by one they seemed to get what he was saying (save for Tamaki, who seemed absolutely lost with the blank look on his face).

Kyoya adjusted the position of his glasses, quietly exhaling as he sat mulling over what confirmed a long time running suspicion after seeing Kyo's "true" eye color for the first time. _I had always wondered, thinking there was the possibility that her father may have had a first wife, but if that was true I would have already known about this long before now. I just never thought... _"Uchiwa-san, you're saying that Kyo, she's adopted?" The speckled vice-president of the Host Club asked to confirm this assumption.

"What?!" Tamaki jerked completely upright in his seat, eyes wide as saucer plates from hearing Kyoya's question. The blonde king of the Host Club had yet to fully grasp what Kira had dropped for them.

Mori nodded in a rather simple manner, speaking up for the first time sense he had ended the fight between the cousins. "That makes sense. Kyo-kun, she's not even Japanese."

Tamaki's gawking stare turned up to the towering Mori, jaw dropped far down to the point of being unhinged, and looked as though he had just seen a ghost. His whole frame rattled, causing Kira to blink stupidly a few times before pointing at the blonde Suoh boy with a rather dumbfounded look on his face. "You can't be serious...you couldn't tell...?"

Almost mortified, or at least looking that way, Tamaki turned to Kyoya and snatched hold of his uniform collar, and thus began to shake him vigorously. "Mother, did you know this?! Did you?! How could you keep it away from me like that if you knew?! I thought we were all family?!" Tamaki wailed loudly, his over dramatic personality getting the better of the whole situation.

Smacking Tamaki's hands from their hold on his jacket, Kyoya attempted to readjust himself after being shaken like a rag doll, feeling a tad woozy from the whole thing. "Would you knock it off? I wasn't sure myself until now. But yes, I did have a suspicion that Kyo was either only half or not even Japanese. No girl her age is that tall or even has blue eyes if their of nationality. If I had to guess, I'd say Kyo was either of some Western European decent or even American. Am I right, Uchiwa-san?"Kyoya's grey eyes slid over to the dark haired boy who was staring at Tamaki with a look that mixed disbelief, shock, and possibly annoyance with his reaction and sudden outburst.

However, Kira snapped out of it as he met Kyoya's gaze and nodded. "Yeah. American actually. Her birth parents were on vacation here while her mother was pregnant. From what my parents told me, Kyo's birth mother went into premature labor two months before her actual due date. Sadly enough, Kyo's father died in a car accident on his way to the hospital, and shortly after, her mother died from complications with the birth." Kira explained, a rather sad look overcoming his facial expression, his hands coming to clasp together atop his knees as his topaz gaze stared down at the gazebo floorboards. "It was a month after that, when my aunt and uncle happened to be at that very same hospital, meeting with your father, Ohtori-san." Briefly he glanced up through his bangs at the somewhat surprised looking Kyoya, a very frail smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. "My Aunt Umi passed by the nursery, and heard about the sad story of the orphan baby girl. It didn't take much to get my Uncle Ichigo to agree with adopting her. They named the baby Kyo, a name that both had wanted to name their first child."

"Kyon-chan's story is s-so s-sad!" Hunny choked, his whimpering sobs to such a tragic story overly evident as tears pooled at the outside corners of his normally soft gaze, his arms hugging Usa-chan up as close as possible to him. Mori set a comforting hand atop his cousin's head in an attempt of reassurance.

"When did Kyo find out she was adopted?" Kyoya asked, taking note of the fact that Tamaki was the exact twin to Hunny at the moment, tears in his eyes and a handkerchief caught between his teeth as he pulled on it with his hands.

Kira's face pulled a thoughtful look for a moment, and then a slight scowl crossed it all within a very small time frame. "The same day I found we were engaged." He muttered. "Kyo knows about her adoption, about what happened to her biological parents, and as easily as she seems to live with that, it bothers her a lot. I can see it in her eyes. She's haunted by it, but won't tell anyone or admit to it. Kyo's a stubborn girl, I'm sure you already know that, but she's even more stubborn when it comes to dealing with an issue that she sees as possibly making her look weak." Kira sighed while rubbing the middle of his forehead.

Kyoya nodded slowly to this, his legs coming to cross over one another as he shifted in his seat. "And what about your engagement? Is that what causes the fights between you two?"

"I wish that was the case." Kira exhaled heavily while shaking his head. "We don't fight because of that. The first fight between us started the same day I found out we were engaged. I stormed out of the house, pissed off to no end, and ended up running into Kyo out in the backyard. I was mad, but not at her, after finding out about her adoption, why we were engaged in the first place, I decided to make it my responsibility to make her strong. She was going to have to be able to protect herself against others who would appear in her life and try to break her with what made her different from the rest of the family. I wanted to make sure she would be able to stand on her own...I wanted to protect her. That's why I called her an '_exile_' and swung for the first time."

A heavy silence began to swell up in the outdoor gazebo, mixed looks coming from each boy as they reacted differently to Kira's story and explanation. In a way, Hunny and Mori understood what Kira meant by his actions towards Kyo, pushing her to face unfair judgment and stand against it, both mentally and physically. But it still was bothering them about the engagement between the two cousins, and that caused their mixed frown. Tamaki on the other hand, looked to be near exploding as he wasn't quite grasping the concept behind Kira's methods or reasoning, in the blonde's mind, protecting someone didn't mean beating them into unconsciousness and having them sent to the hospital. Gritting his teeth, hands clenching over his knees, Tamaki stared at Kira with an angry fire leaking through his amethyst gaze.

"She doesn't know about the engagement, does she?" Kyoya's tone held a bitter edge as he spoke out with one more pressing question.

_The Third Music Room – KYO'S SIDE OF THE STORY..._

Kaoru stared dumbly at Kyo, eyes blinking every once in a while with a repetitive manner that made him look like a confused child. Both were still sitting on the couch, alone in the Third Music Room. There was a pregnant silence all about them, ready to burst at any given moment as Kyo stared off across the room. Her white bandaged striped face holding a rather subdued and mournful look, blue eyes narrowed on the farthest table from them.

"I guess...I guess that does make sense." Kaoru murmured quietly while glancing off to the side for a moment. "The two of you don't even hold the smallest resemblance to one another at all. Even if you are cousins." Briefly his gaze hardened, as the Hitachiin boy berated himself mentally on his inability to see something that the others probably had picked up on already. _She's adopted. She's not even Japanese, and yet her whole name pronounces her to be that way. I wonder if that made her target at that public school...? _"Is that why you and your cousin fight? Because he calls you an '_exile_', for being from another country, nationality wise?"

Kyo shrugged. "I don't know. That's the only thing that I can think of. Before I found out I was adopted, Kira and I were like siblings in the way we treated each other. He was always looking out for me, making sure I wasn't hurt when my other cousins would tease me and throw me into the nearest body of water. But now," Kyo made a small irritated growl in her throat, eyes flinching as well as she reminded herself of Kira's change in attitude towards her. "It's like that person never existed at all. Like it was all just a performance on his part."

Kaoru's brow furrowed upon hearing this, the knowledge of Kira's personality switch on Kyo irritating him even further as it expanded upon the fight he had watched in the courtyard. "Bastard. I won't forgive him." Kaoru mumbled under his breath while crossing his arms over his chest and sat back on the couch.

His mumbling caused Kyo to perk up in her seat, gaze relaxing out of response to what she thought she heard coming from him as she looked over at Kaoru. "What was that?" Her brows were slightly raised in response to her own curiosity.

A red hue flushed across Kaoru's face as he realized she had heard his mumblings. Snapping towards her in a rather quick twisting motion in his seat, Kaoru started to stutter and wave his hands about to get her off the subject as quickly as possible. "N-Nothing! I didn't say anything! You're hearing things! I think it's from too many blows to the head!!"

Kyo's face faulted into one that laid out her nothing to none ability to either comprehend what he had just said or even believe it at all. With one bro arched rather high and the other resting almost level across the top of her eye. "Yeah, right." She muttered, causing the Hitachiin boy to nearly fall out of his seat in failure, but as he managed to somehow recover, Kyo sighed while at the same time wincing as she had moved wrong yet again. "Dammit. Kira really hit me hard with that last one." She grunted, holding an arm over her lower ribs on the right.

"Just how strong are the two of you anyways? You guys were flying around the courtyard like it was nothing at all." Kaoru commented, while pointing the near superhuman skills that both Uchiwa seemed to possess.

"We're not anything alien, if that's what you mean." Kyo replied. "We both trained under my grandfather and have just a natural talent for martial arts. It helps be stubborn and hardheaded, that's where you develop the inability to just lay down and call it quits." A smirk pulled at her lips as she eyed Kaoru. "That would probably make you and Hikaru pretty strong too. That is, if the two of you ever took up some sort of fighting form." She snickered in a tease to the younger Freshman who was now shooting her a rather bold glare.

"Shut up!" Kaoru snapped, face burning with red embarrassment as he tried his best to further glare murder at the older girl. "Maybe I don't want to end up with a weird nickname or title like you! Katana no Sarutobi Sasuke!" That earned him a rather aggravated look from Kyo, and he grinned like the Cheshire as he had found a new button to push on her.

Kyo muttered under her breath quietly, possibly a string of curse words as she huffed and stubbornly crossed her arms. "Damn that Gokudo! He started that stupid name and now it's going to follow me around for the rest of my life now." She whined at the end of her sentence, hands grabbing at her face in frustration and an odd sort of acceptance to the fact that she was never going to hear the end of it now.

Kaoru's nose wrinkled slightly as he was now curious to know how Kyo had come about to loath such a title, other than the fact that she had a gang of rough looking morons chasing after her in attempt to claim this so called 'title'. "I don't get it."

_Elsewhere, Back to Kira..._

A rather sullen look wrote itself across Kira's face as he nodded in response to Kyoya's question. "No one's old her yet. That's part of the reason why I came home so early, especially after I heard she received a transfer of schools." He replied quietly. "I made sure that my parents and relatives wouldn't say anything to Kyo, because I wanted to tell her myself if there was no other alternative. The engagement is only a failsafe in case there's a legal issue that other outside members of the family want to press and delay things with."

Tamaki stared at Kira with a rather intense studious gaze, as if weighing something that had been on his mind for a while now. Waiting for the right opportunity, Tamaki made his move, silencing Kyoya's further question by merely holding up a hand. "Kira-san," He locked eye contact with the older boy, never allowing it to slip. "Do you love Kyo?"

Kira blinked a few times, a bit surprised at such a question imposed upon him, the answer to which could bring about several if not many furious looks and words from the four high schoolers if he wasn't careful. "Yes."

"WHAT?!" Tamaki choked, nearly falling out of seat from such a straightforward response. Shooting up in his seat and looking like a feral animal ready to rip apart its point of aggravation. "HOW DARE YOU THINK PERVERSE THINGS WHEN YOU LOOK AT HER?! HAVE YOU NO SHAME, NO HONOR?!"

"I DIDN'T MEAN LIKE THAT YOU MORON!" Kira snapped back, matching Tamaki's voice level and anger. "I SAID 'YES', BECAUSE I LOVE KYO AS IF SHE WERE MY LITTLE SISTER AND NOTHING ELSE! I COULD NEVER LOOK AT HER WITH INTEREST, EVER! THAT'S WHY I'M AGAINST OUR ENGAGEMENT!"

"Tamaki, sit down!" Kyoya commanded in his usual calm placid demeanor as he grabbed a hold of the blonde boy's coat tails and pulled him down with one swift jerk. "Don't jump to the wrong conclusions before you hear the rest of someone's answer." He scolded in a quiet manner before looking towards Kira once more. "Uchiwa-san, are you still going to talk to Kyo about the engagement?"

"I'm going to try, but after what happened today, I don't think she'll be ready to talk to me for a while." Kira replied. "Then again, that's my fault anyways." As he finished speaking, Kira glanced over to the outside of the gazebo, his gaze watching as two of the younger members of the Host Club, friends of Kyo, approach. Both looked uneasy about him being there still, and for that, Kira couldn't blame them. _I'd be looking at me like that too after seeing that fight. _

Tamaki seemed to return back to his normal self for a moment, perking up at Haruhi's presence. "Ah, Haruhi!" He greeted the brunette with a rather wide grin, but for some reason couldn't maintain it knowing what kind of mess Kyo had been when she left with her and the twins. "How's Kyo?" He asked hurriedly, now concerned over the reason as to why she and Hikaru were there.

"She's fine. I bandaged her up the best I could." Haruhi replied as she and Hikaru took up a place outside the gazebo's white open interior. Her gaze drifted from Tamaki to Kyoya, her eyes narrowing a bit. "But I do think she should go to the hospital to be checked out."

A mere nod, and Kyoya stood up from his seat excusing himself as he stepped out of the gazebo turning his cell phone on to make a call. While Haruhi was bombarded suddenly with questions from Tamaki and Hunny, Hikaru stared over at Kira. The older boy was sitting a bit slumped in his seat, gaze fastened to the space before his feet while listening to what was going on around him. _I don't care if this guy is her cousin, you don't treat family like that! I will never forgive him! Kyo is our toy to play with, not his! At least we leave her in one standing piece when we're done. This guy, Uchiwa Kira, how many times has he broken her now?! _Hikaru's hands curled into tight fists as he glared at Kira with every ounce of anger and hate he could find within himself. Even if Kyo was used to the fights, being tossed around, Hitachiin Hikaru wasn't going to stand for it...because Kyo was special, she was his friend.

"Thank you. Yes, I'll call when she's left. Goodbye." Kyoya hung up and turned to look back over his shoulder at everyone. "The hospital has been given the heads up on Kyo." He announced.

"Good job Kyoya!" Tamaki praised while giving his friend a thumb's up gesture. "We can always count on you in times of need!"

Kyoya bite down a groan as he slipped his cell phone into his pocket, shaking his head at how he could even being to remember why it was he was friends with someone like Tamaki in the first place. Hunny slipped down out of his seat and jumped out of the gazebo, landing beside Haruhi and snatching her hand. "Hurry, Haru-chan! We need to get Kyo ready!" He shouted while dragging the much taller Freshman off towards the South Building, leaving everyone else to stare after with rather dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Hikaru snapped out of it first, and ran after them, shouting for Hunny to slow down, but not without casting one last baeful look back towards Kira. This time, Kira caught the furious gaze of the young redhead, and only nodded at it. _I guess I deserve that. _


	20. The Day After Tomorrow

_**Chapter Twenty**_

_**The Day After Tomorrow**_

A small cloud of doom hung over the members of the Ouran High Host Club, and it had been that way for nearly a week now. The tangled mess that they had all voluntarily gotten themselves involved in after Uchiwa Kyo's cousin, Uchiwa Kira, showed up on the school grounds and a fight ensued between the two. Although there a few of the boys, including Haruhi, who held a rather deep grudge at the moment against Kira, things had seemed to cool down around school. The fight was nearly forgotten by the student body as preparation for the upcoming holidays began. Christmas was more than a month away now, a month and two weeks according to the precise and punctual Ohtori Kyoya, who in turn was looking over the club's finances in regards to events leading up to the winter holiday that would draw in the crowds. Even though things seemed to be returning slightly to normal, as normal for the Host Club when it came to that term, Kyo seemed to be on edge with her cousin back home.

Her outbursts against the twins during normal school hours seemed twice as fiery, and her return pranks almost twice as potent when they bugged her on the wrong day. When it seemed like things were growing far too dark, Haruhi stepped in, smacked all three upside the head, scolded them for about an hour, and then forced the twins and Kyo to "kiss and make-up" after one of the worst prank days the Host Club had witnessed yet. Kyo sat in a cross-legged manner, bearing a pensive scowl across her face while being covered head to toe in a pale rose pink colored stain, the twins on her right sitting in the same manner, but looking rather pleased with themselves even though they sported splotches of every color in the flipping rainbow all over. Tamaki stood behind Haruhi and off to the side, giving all three of them a rather amused but disapproving look nonetheless as he shook his head.

Hunny sat giggling across the way, seated at a table with his much taller cousin Mori, stuffing a forkful of sweetened cake into his mouth while swinging his legs in their dangling position over the lip of his chair. Usa-chan was seated on the table next to his plate and tea cup, the stitched mouth in its ever placid position, although one would almost swear it pulled at the corners as if attempting to also smirk at the way the three of the worst pranksters in Ouran looked. Kyoya and Mori were the only other two who didn't seem at all interested in what was going on, although they kept a watchful eye in case anything else decided to explode suddenly about them with color dying powder or gel.

"Enough is enough! Call it a draw and end this ridiculous "war", before someone really does get hurt!" Haruhi scolded, her finger shaking at them to further emphasize her point like a mother would to her disobedient children running a muck in the department store. "Now, are any of you going to apologize to the other?"

Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged looks with one another before shrugging, and in the next second tag teamed a hug-tackle on Kyo, toppling the motionless Sophomore who would rather get stuck listening to her English teacher drone on further over their lessons versus saying she was 'sorry'. Singing in chorus, the twins expressed their 'sincerest apologies' and 'pleas for her forgiveness' while cuddling up to the somewhat thrashing Kyo, who shouted for them to get off her, which only further encouraged the twins to continue their teasing efforts with their _toy_. Tamaki laughed nervously as he watched Haruhi drop her chin to her chest and exhale a large breath in defeat.

"Now, now, Haruhi. Kids will be kids." He assured her, gently patting her on the shoulder as he watched Kyo thrash still and try to shake Hikaru loose from his fastened position on her left arm. "And hell spawn, will be...hell spawn for the rest of our lives." Tamaki now also exhaled in defeat at this reminder, dropping his head and shoulders.

"I SAID GET OFF!" Kyo snapped, her face coming dangerously close to the grinning Cheshire who had planted himself about her middle, and was now looking up at her innocently. "Don't you even dare give me that look, Kaoru." She hissed in warning, eyes pulling into a narrow and even glare as she had seen that look one too many times before.

"And what look would that be, Paper fan-senpai?" He cooed while crawling further up with his hug, tying his arms about her neck now while Hikaru continued to hold fast on her arm. "Don't you accept our apologies? After all, Haruhi said we should apologize!"

Kyo gave him a dirty look. "Do you even know what that word means?"

Hunny covered his mouth with both hands, giggling madly at the rather funny sight of the grounded Kyo and the twins latching on to her with no intention of letting go any time soon. "Kyon-chan is very much loved by Hika-chan and Kao-chan!" He babbled through both cake and laughter, his warm brown eyes glancing up towards his cousin, who nodded solemnly in agreement. However, there was the distant reminder that caught Hunny off-guard, his mind wondering now if Kira had attempted to talk with Kyo about their hidden engagement. _Kyon-chan, what are you going to do when you find out? How mad will you be?_

"Wait and see." Mori's placid tone eased into Hunny's thoughts. He had seen the rather abrupt change in the blonde's demeanor and assumed correctly that it dealt with the information they had been given by Uchiwa Kira. Only the older members, excluding Kyo, of the Host Club were aware of Kyo's unknown betrothal to her own cousin. Even Mori was keeping an extra close eye on the dark haired girl, making sure that her mood didn't swing too far out of whack, and if necessary offer himself as an object to vent her pent up frustration on rather than fish out Kira for another fight. _Never knew a girl her size could be that strong. _He mused quietly, scratching the back of his head while recalling the day after Kira's appearance in which he caught one of Kyo's punches in the palm of his hand. There was a faint bruise now starting to show. "All we can do, is wait and see." Mori assured his small cousin, his face never once cracking a smile, but the softer look in his eyes conveyed his true feelings on the matter.

"I swear to god!" Kyo's shouting collected the attention of Hunny, Mori, and even now Kyoya, rather quickly as her tone touched what sounded like a dangerous level now. "Get off me now! I have to go clean up and change before people start showing up!" Kyo's tail and ears fuzzed out, and her eyes narrowed triangles that were a final warning to the two boys.

Stepping in now, Kyoya snapped shut his personal pad, and gave the twins rather slight of hand commanding looks that they froze under. "That goes for the two of you rainbow pixies as well." He pointed out the rather obvious in what Kyo had snapped on them, while at the same time completely shooing the twins away before the possibility of Kyo seriously snapped on them. _I don't like this tip-toeing around her, but until we can know for sure that she's calmed down, the last thing we need is to remind the faculty of the fight they decided to 'forget' acting upon. _Exhaling quietly through his nose, Kyoya watched as Hikaru and Kaoru released Kyo in a rather reluctant manner before sulking off towards the changing rooms. "Kyo, I laid out your costume in the farthest changing stall whenever you're free of that pink powder dye."

Muttering something under her breath, Kyo pushed herself up to her feet, dusting her hands off, and almost near stomped her way towards the said location. Tossing open the shade to one side, Kyo stepped into the stall that was nearly three times bigger than any department store's changing room, and proceeded to yank off every article of clothing feathered with the pink dust bomb. Jacket, tie, dress shirt, slacks, and even shoes were all removed and dumped in a pile at the floor to ceiling mirror's right hand bottom corner, leaving Kyo standing in her undergarments. The costume that Kyoya had mentioned, was indeed laid out for her, or rather was hanging up before her on a wall hook. The theme for the day was a take on fairy tales, and Kyo had been dubbed as the March Hare apparently and grumbled as she changed clothes.

While Kyo was absent from the main room, Kyoya glanced over Tamaki with a raised brow in an underhanded gesture as he opened his personal pad once again, grey eyes smoothly gliding over towards Haruhi's direction. The tall blonde blinked a few times, not quite understanding the meaning of Kyoya's quiet gesture, forcing the Vice President of the Host Club to finally just nod at Haruhi's direction and added in a shooing motion with his free hand.

Raising a brow, Tamaki continued to only further stare at Kyoya with a look that shouted more clearly than anything that he was drawing a blank. Somehow, Kyoya managed to keep from snapping the pen he held in half from the mounting frustration bubbling beneath his normally cool exterior. _Never mind! _Again he snapped his personal pad closed and nearly stalked over to where Haruhi was busy preparing for club hours. Clearing his throat, nabbing her attention as he did so, Kyoya adjusted the way his glasses sat upon the bridge of his nose. "Haruhi, could you check to make sure we have enough strawberry tea in the supply room?"

"Sure." The brunette replied with a nod. Her gaze wavered for a moment as she was a bit confused to Kyoya's forced presence of calm, and for a brief few minutes she glanced into Tamaki's direction. Her face pulled into a fault at the rather confused and flustered looking Tamaki who was muttering something to himself while shooting irritated looks at Kyoya. Pulling a brow, Haruhi just shook her head as she headed off towards the supply room where they kept the sweets, teas, and coffees ready for use.

As soon as Haruhi disappeared into the supply room, Tamaki shot across whatever little expanse there was between him and Kyoya, face burning red along the apples of his cheeks and an embarrassed look on his face that he tried to hide behind one of annoyance. "Kyoya -"

"What do you think about Kyo's temper today?" Kyoya cut him off with the rather blunt question his hard grey eyes only seemed to emphasize for an immediate response.

Tamaki's mouth snapped shut almost immediately as he pulled himself out of his normal overly dramatic reactions to Kyoya's inability to use silent gesture he understood. (Then again, if anyone in the Host Club used gestures that Tamaki would understand to the full extent without resorting to a flustered state, would require large sheets of poster board holding colorfully drawn pictures and words held up in sequence. That, and or grabbing the blonde Sophomore by the ear directly to hiss instructions to without him wondering what had been said.) A deeply thoughtful look crossed his face while that gentle and normally joyous amethyst gaze looked off towards the changing rooms. "She seemed a bit more reserved today." He shrugged before his arms tucked across one another over his chest. "It's been about week now since the whole Kira thing happened. Somehow though, I get the feeling he hasn't talked to her yet."

"Kyon-chan would be very sad right now if she had found out." Hunny spoke up, his fork settling down beside the half eaten piece of cake he just couldn't bring himself to finish at the moment. "She may act angry, and we may be worried, but if Kira-san had told her...we would see it."

Mori nodded in agreement to this, his own gaze briefly glancing towards the changing rooms where the commotion of the twins could be heard in an attempt to get a further rise out of Kyo. "Right now, I think she's still looking to get over being called an _exile_ yet again. That seems to infuriate her more than anything at the moment." He mused, talking more than what was normally heard out of him in one sitting. However, even the towering senior held some sort of attachment to Kyo, both as a friend and as someone he had a growing attraction to. The situation surrounding the cross-dressing Sophomore was touchy at best, but also could prove to be devastating if it exploded in all the wrong ways. And that, is what considered Mori the most along with his fellow Host Club members.

Tamaki nodded. "Yeah." Glancing over at the quiet Kyoya, Tamaki felt a sense a heavy blanket covering over all of them. Exhaling a quiet sigh, Tamaki rubbed the back of his neck with a tired look overtaking his face. "Looks like we should be in the clear today, but let's just keep an eye out. If Hikaru and Kaoru start agitating her beyond the normal limits, we just need to step in like we've been doing."

The others nodded in agreement, and just in time for Haruhi to arrive and wonder what it was they had been talking about in her absence. From the other side of the room the twins came bounding in, dressed up as mirror images to one another in the guise of the Cheshire Cat, with Kyo trailing behind adjusting the green silk tie she had been supplied with for the March Hare. Tamaki perked up at the sight of Kyo in her costume, the dark chocolate top hat sat pulled down a bit on her head with two long light brown colored rabbit ears sticking out the sides were a thick green ribbon followed the seam between the hat's body and the brim.

"Ah! Kyo! You look great!" Tamaki cheered while scrambling over to her. "I knew you'd make the perfect March Hare!" He laughed while taking her hand and spinning her about. The long tailored coattails of her jacket spun out like streamers, catching Tamaki in the shin but were ignored as the blonde was too far caught up in how his friend seemed to fit the character of the March Hare so perfectly. "Hunny-senpai is the Mad Hatter, and Mori-senpai is the Door Mouse! The three of you will be hosting the Mad Tea Party today under the cherry tree pavilion."

Feeling slightly dizzy from the spin, Kyo swayed a bit on her feet as Tamaki spoke, only to come to finally when he mentioned the pavilion setting. Looking up from beneath her bangs and the brim of her hat, Kyo gave him a somewhat curious look. "Isn't it a bit cold outside to be running our activities out there?" She asked while pushing her hat up a bit so it sat a bit more of an angled position.

Tamaki wagged his index finger in response, tutting at her question. "Come, come. You forget who arranges all our activities, Kyo." He grinned while tapping her nose playfully. "We'll be hosting inside of an enclosed pavilion today! There are three altogether, connected so that they are adjacent to each party, making it an easy and comfortable transfer for our lovely _customers_." He explained while stepping to Kyo's side and setting an arm about her shoulders. "It would be irresponsible of us as the _hosts_ to not take care of the princesses we are to provide entertainment to, if we subjected them to the harsh cold of November!"

"Okay, sorry I asked." Kyo muttered under her breath, eyes rolling at Tamaki's further indulgence of his lengthy explanation of the day's events.

Another thirty-five minutes later and the enclosed pavilion that Tamaki had explained, was bustling with high school girls who wished to be entertained with a "mad tea party" and at the same time indulging in their fantasies with several of the school's more popular boys. Sprawled out in the midst of the cherry tree garden, were three large white canvas pavilions with draperies pulled shut in order to keep out the early winter chill and keep in the toasty warmth pumped in through a quiet heating system. Arranged in a close cluster that enabled the flaps on side of each of the large tents to connect in a sort of doorway and curtained off to still give the sense of privacy from the other two parties, the pavilions were alive with the bustle of activity.

In the foremost pavilion, Tamaki and Kyoya entertained their _customers_ with a peachy romantic setting as they themselves were dressed in the ever so popular "prince charming" costumes. Tamaki, the knight in shining armor sat amidst several senior girls on the crescent shaped couches backed with many beautifully colored pillows and silk draperies. Dressed as the ever tall, dark, and handsome figure, Kyoya portrayed the more brooding prince ready to sweep his princess off her feet. Each and every girl was caught up in the atmosphere, glassy eyed and awe struck by the pure fantasy made somewhat real to them as they sipped their sweet teas and nibbled at their delicate pastries.

Connected to the first pavilion at its side, was the second setting that was separated from the first with rich colored gauze curtains sown with golden arrays of celestial bodies. Here, Haruhi and the Hitachiin twins entertained their _customers_ as the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat(s) with a quaint little setting to mimic that of an outside spring garden surrounded by a white picket fence following the outline of the large tent. Haruhi indulged the girls sitting with her at a neat little iron tea table with small stories about _his_ home life, and how _he_ was more than happy to answer any of their questions when they asked. Off to the side, the twins sent their _customers_ into the usual hot flustered and blushing sway with their "brotherly love" escapades. Each girl about them swooning as they dared to tread the fine line of sibling incest to its farthest tether.

Separated with thick draperies that swirled with misted color and framed by large decorative cords that acted like a door frame of sorts, the backside of the second connected to the third and final pavilion where in which was located the actual "Mad Tea Party". Here, a long oval shaped table had been set up with twelve random antique chairs sitting about it. Tea pots of all make, color, size, and age were scattered across the table top, mixed amongst were tea cups and saucers. Far too many wares than there were to cater to the needs of the seven who sat together at the head end. Jams, spreads, cakes, cookies, and all kinds of treats littered the table in and amongst the cups and pots, glistening with sugary coats and petals. It was here, that Hunny, Mori, and Kyo took on the appearance of the Mad Hatter, the Door Mouse, and the March Hare.

As they had all hoped, Kyo included, the smothering depression that seemed to be looming overhead ever so lovingly dispersed once the club event kicked into full swing. For once, Kyo seemed to actually be enjoying the make believe fantasy that she helped in, laughing with _his _two regulars – Asuka and Miura. Asuka had requested an hour with Kyo as she had her heart set on a longer afternoon with Haruhi afterwards, while Miura had requested a good two hours with Kyo like always. It had become apparent to the Host Club and to Kyo, that Kuchiki Miura, had a rather deep crush on the older Sophomore with blue eyes.

The Mad Tea Party continued on with Hunny gaining a good deal of attention as he fawned over his older cousin dressed like the sleepy eyed Door Mouse. The girls squealed and giggled with glee as they watched, hungry for more of the "Mo" action they were being indulged with for the afternoon. Kyo smiled in a somewhat stuck manner, as she herself was not exactly '_into_' or enjoyed this type of male interaction, but at the same time couldn't exactly express that opinion since Kyoya had made it rather clear that she should refrain from that during club hours.

_I just need to remind myself that Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai aren't like that outside of the Host Club...It's just so weird though! _Shaking the thought from the forefront of her thinking, Kyo returned her attention to Asuka who had called her name in question. "Hm?" Kyo inquired, brows raised while her eyes and mouth smiled over at the younger student.

"Thank you for the lovely afternoon, but I'm afraid my time with you has ended." Asuka stated while setting her teacup down on its respective saucer. How she managed to do just that with the maze of assorted wares was a wonder.

Kyo stood from _his_ seat and nodded while stepping around to Asuka's side of the table, and like a complete gentleman pulled her chair out and offered his right hand encased within a white dress glove that buttoned at the wrist. "Asuka-hime, it is always a wonderful pleasure to have you share my afternoon." Kyo replied, taking Asuka's hand gently but firmly within his own once she slipped it along the satin surface of his palm, and helped her stand to her feet. "Will I see you Monday afternoon?"

Asuka grinned bashfully while nodding her head, the long curtains of her dark hair falling over the front of her shoulders. "Of course. I would never miss the chance to spend my afternoon with you or Haruhi-kun." She chirped happily, and then curtsied at the same time that Kyo bowed to her. Looking over at her friend, Asuka sneaked a quick wink in as she waved politely at her. "See you tomorrow Miura-chan!" She called out while departing through the heavy curtain door to enter the second pavilion where Haruhi was at the same time bidding farewell to her guests.

Miura waved as her friend departed, cheeks staining red in response to Asuka's wink, her fingers playing with the delicate stem of her teacup now to distract herself from Kyo's return to sitting at the table. "Neh, Kyo-senpai, may I ask you a question?" She murmured quietly, gaze flickering up through her bangs at the now curious Sophomore. "Who was that older boy you got into a fight with last week?"

For a moment it seemed as though time froze about Kyo, her eyes loosing a sense of lively shine on their surface and pupils contracting as she felt her throat tighten in response. The blue-eyed Sophomore was unsure as to how she should reply, whether or not if it should the truth or a cover. _Damn! The one time Kyoya isn't around to cover my ass! What the hell do I tell her?! _"Oh, yeah, that...well, you see, the thing about that is...um...I was trying out for the Martial Arts Club?" Kyo stuttered out a rather miserable explanation through a nervous chuckle at the same time. _Oh kami-sama, please let her buy that!_

Unfortunately for Kyo..."Kyo-senpai, you're lying."...She sucks at lying on the spot. Horribly. Miura stared at her _host_ with a very mellow look on her face, showing her complete and utter disbelief to the Sophomore's failed and blatant attempt at a lie to cover up the real truth. Her milky brown eyes stared evenly, and almost commanded the truth be told (much like a mother staring down her child she knows is lying through their teeth).

Still chuckling in a shaky manner, hand rubbing at the back of her neck, Kyo suddenly found herself defeated and exhaled a long sigh as her head fell and tilted off the side. _Shit! _"You're worse than my own mother, Miura-hime." Kyo muttered under his breath before sitting up straight once more, thumb pushing up the brim of the top hat looming over his vision. "Well, to be honest, that was my older cousin – Uchiwa Kira." Her voice growling out the name of her cousin as she spoke, brow furrowing with a shadow.

Miura held a questioning look on her face, more in response to the growl of the boy's name than to the answer of her question. "You're cousin?"

"Yeah. We get into it every once in a while." Kyo replied, a bit begrudgingly if at that. The Sophomore was none too thrilled to be talking about the fight, but that was hidden behind a tired smile. "Miura-hime, would you like a tea cake?" Kyo asked, _his_ hand picking up the nearest plate arrayed with the square shaped pieces, the moist bread holding a detailed patchwork of pink and white squares arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Holding the plate out towards Miura, Kyo was hoping that the younger student would swayed into a different direction in their conversations.

There was a mix of both confusion and possibly annoyance flowing through Kuchiki Miura. She could tell that Kyo wanted her to stop asking questions about the supposed fight, and allowed a small quiet sigh to escape over her lips as she knew the Sophomore was not going to budge. Giving her _host _a small smile, Miura nodded while taking one of the tea cakes offered. For the remainder of the time that the two spent together the subject of the fight was never touched again, and at the end of Miura's two hours with Kyo, the Sophomore once again stood up from _his_ chair and helped the girl up like a complete gentleman. Bowing to her at the door, Kyo gave a polite good-bye and waited until Miura had disappeared through the heavy curtains before returning to the "Mad Tea Party", finishing out the rest of the few club hours left with Hunny and Mori.

_**Four Hours Later...**_

"Neh, Kyo?" Haruhi glanced back over her shoulder as she pulled her uniform jacket on over her dress shirt. The older student made a noise that acknowledged the fact that she had heard her and was listening. "How are your Home Economic classed going?" She asked, curious as she hadn't really heard much from Kyo concerning the class she seemed to have the most difficulty in since transferring to Ouran.

Adjusting the tie she had tossed back around her throat, Kyo held a rather thoughtful look on her face as she mused on the grades she was receiving in class. "They're average, I suppose. There's supposed to be some sort an exam on what we've learned so far next week before winter break starts." Kyo replied. "Come to think of it, I have no idea as to what I should make." She mused while tapping the tip of her chin and staring up into space.

Haruhi exhaled a sigh while giving her friend a sheepish grin. "Kyo, you really shouldn't put these things off till the last minute." She tried to reprimand Kyo, but somehow she found that impossible to do so as the dark haired girl stared at her with a wide-eyed expression. "Do you know if it's supposed to be a snack, dessert, or a meal setup?" Haruhi questioned while picking up her school bag.

Shrugging, Kyo slipped the strap of her school bag across her left shoulder so that it crossed over her chest. "We have the choice between lunch or dinner. I had thought about going with dinner, but..." Kyo's sentence trailed off as her gaze shifted slowly in a sideways manner, for she had a rather odd feeling that there were other ears listening in on the conversation. And as she assumed, crouching low to the ground but with ears tilted up and cupped by a hand o amplify their hearing capacity, were Hikaru and Kaoru intently listening to what the two girls were talking about. "Did you hear everything well?" Kyo asked, her tone and face rather placid and smooth, almost as if she were genuinely wondering.

"Hai! We did indeed Kyo-chan!" Hikaru grinned while nodding at the same time. His twin brother agreed in the same manner, a cheeky grin spreading across his mouth.

Kyo raised a brow, a somewhat amused look on her face as she eyed them both, weighing the fact that Hikaru had called her '_Kyo-chan_' versus the usual 'Paper fan-senpai', or 'Kyo-senpai'. "What do you want?"

Her rather blunt question caught the two boys off-guard, and the loud thump of their face plant sounded their clear defeat to side-step around Kyo's suspicion. Recovering quickly, they scrambled across the floor and popped up in front of Kyo's face with eager looks. "Neh, neh, Kyo-chan, are you cooking dinner tonight for us?" Kaoru asked excitedly, although he was more looking forward to the fact that someone of their equal financial status was going to be cooking, rather than Kyo was cooking dinner for anyone.

"No." Kyo replied while walking off towards the door, Haruhi trailing behind with a bead of sweat forming at her temple. However, the begging and constant presence of the Hitachiin twins would not end there, as they followed after the two girls. Kyo's blue-eyed glare snapped over her shoulder to stare down the two boys following after her and Harhui. "What are you doing?"

"Following you of course." Hikaru replied with a look on his face that seemed to question Kyo's own intelligence.

"We want you to cook dinner for us." Kaoru chimed in.

Kyo and Haruhi exchanged looks with one another, a rather sour expression on both on them. "I don't remember ever saying I was going to cook tonight." Kyo muttered over at Haruhi, looking for conformation on this. Haruhi shrugged in response. Looking over her shoulder again, Kyo eyed the two evenly. "I'm not cooking dinner for anyone tonight."

"Then we'll come over tomorrow for dinner." The boys grinned, extending a dinner invitation to themselves at Kyo's unwilling behest.

"Hell no!" Kyo retorted.

Haruhi suddenly perked up as an idea struck her. "Oi, Kyo, maybe this could prove to be a good way to practice for that exam of yours." Haruhi pointed out. "Even though I have a somewhat uneasy feeling." She murmured as an afterthought.

Kyo stared slack jawed at Haruhi, frozen in her steps with no recognition to the fact that they were now outside in the courtyard. The twins danced about Kyo cheering at the fact that she was going to cook them dinner. Haruhi laughed uneasily at the sight, now wondering if it had been a bad idea to suggest this in the first place. Especially when...

"Let's eat over at Haruhi's house!" The boys exclaimed in unison while throwing their hands up over their head out of glee.


	21. Dinner for Five!

_**Chapter Twenty-One**_

_**Dinner For Five! The Invitation to the Uchiwa Onsen!**_

Haruhi chuckled nervously, hand scratching the back of her head as she stood before the open door of the small apartment home she lived in with her father. Standing in the middle of the open doorway, holding a rather surprised look on his face, was Fujioka Ryoji, Haruhi's widower father and famous okama.

"T-Tadaima." Haruhi stammered out sheepishly, knowing that the look on her dad's face was due to the fact that standing behind her, were three guests she had not entirely planned on having over that evening.

"Okaeri nasai." Ryoji returned. From a previous visit, he recognized the redheaded twins standing behind his daughter with massive grins. But the dark haired and blue eyed teen standing somewhat off to the side he had never seen before. Several grocery bags were in hand, and a somewhat uncomfortable look had worked its way across their face, possibly in response to arriving on the doorstep unexpectedly.

"Konban-wa, Oyaji-san!" The twins greeted enthusiastically, only to receive an immediate knock to the back of their heads by Kyo.

"Don't be rude!" Kyo snapped while glaring down on the two boys, who were crouching with hands tucked over the sore spot on the back of their heads.

Haruhi tried her best to merely laugh it off, her voice quivering as she tried to force her suggested idea along without retreating in a dishonorable manner to her person. Ryoji chuckled lightly in response to the small scuffle and looked over at his daughter with a grin. "Why don't we step inside before we catch cold out here?" He suggested, stepping to the side in a welcoming gesture to their guests.

Before anyone else could move a muscle, the twins popped up and dashed inside, leaving Kyo and Haruhi on the doorstep to stare wide-eyed in wonder at their amazing recovery time. Inside, the small group stood in the kitchen, Kyo bowing both in respect and out of personal humility to Haruhi's father as she tried to attempt an explanation for her (and maybe the twins) presence in the small home.

"I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, Fujioka-san." She apologized, an embarrassed scowl forming on her face as she continued to remain in her bow.

Ryoji laughed aloud, nodding his understanding to the situation and at the same time tried to assure the poor teen visually that he was not at all offended in any way. "Not at all, not at all! Please don't worry about it! Any of my daughter's friends are more than welcomed here!" He chuckled while waving his hands. "I'm just glad to know that my Haruhi finally has a female friend at school she hangs out with." Looking over at his daughter, Ryoji grinned. "So, you're helping Kyo-san practice for her Home Economics exam?"

"Yeah. We'll be making dinner tonight, or at least Kyo will be making dinner tonight." Haruhi replied, her gaze suddenly sliding over at the twins who were seemingly interested in the layout and appliances of the kitchen yet again. "Those two on the other hand, are just along for the ride apparently."

"I see." Ryoji mused while also watching the two boys inspect the refrigerator. "Well, you two girls have fun. If you need me to run out and get anything, just let me know." He chirped before leaving the kitchen and retired to the living room.

Once Haruhi's father had stepped out, Kyo exhaled a sigh while her head dropped and shoulders slumped forward. The look on her face caused Haruhi to chuckle quietly while patting on her back in assurance as she could tell that the Sophomore was feeling like a big inconvenience. "Well, let's get started." Haruhi suggested while taking the bags out of Kyo's hands and turned towards the counters behind them.

Again Kyo sighed. "Hai." She called back in reply while standing up straight the best she could and followed after Haruhi, who was already pulling the items they had picked up at the store out of their respective bags and separated them into groups. Watching her, Kyo took note to the fact that the groups of the various things they had picked up seemed a bit odd, but were also being arranged in a line of order to one another. "Are you setting them from first ingredents to the last?"

"Yep. But before we actually start getting things prepared, we need to at least get out of our uniform jackets and put on an apron." Haruhi replied while setting aside the bags from the grocery store. "I think I might have a shirt you can borrow, or at least my dad might." She mused while glancing over at the twins who watched them with curious looks. "Don't touch anything until we come back." She commanded, pointing at the two of them specifically to make sure they understood that she was very much serious.

Both boys shot up straight and tall, serious looks plastered across their faces while they saluted in reply. Kyo groaned and rolled her eyes while following Haruhi off to her room. _I just hope the house doesn't catch on fire in the next two minutes while they're alone in the kitchen._

A few minutes later, and both girls had returned to the kitchen, dress shirts and jackets no longer present upon them as they had changed into different clothes. Both were also sporting large handkerchiefs tied about their head to keep their hair out of their faces and to prevent runaway strands from falling into the food as they cooked. Cooking dinner started with fishing out several pots from the cabinet, and setting the rice maker up off to the side on the counter. For the most part, Haruhi supervised as Kyo prepared a curry dinner, giving her advice when it looked like the Sophomore was stuck or couldn't remember what to do next.

"Ah, looks like our Paper fan-senpai can actually cook!" Hikaru snickered aloud while giving Kyo a rather cheeky grin even as he leaned over towards his brother as if he had meant to whisper that comment between them. Kaoru held a massive grin on his face while holding up a hand to snicker behind in response to his brother's remark.

Kyo's blue gaze seared angrily over at the twins, her grip tightening about the handle of the chopping knife she had been using, causing Haruhi to feel a sense of panic start to wash over her as she laughed nervously with sweat forming on her left temple. The twins fell over laughing, arms wrapped about their stomachs as they rolled about in hysterics. The vein on Kyo's forehead was starting to pulse violently, her glare now nothing more than white hot light contained within narrowed wedge-shape eyes that promised unspeakable horrors once the three of them were left alone in that kitchen. Haruhi exhaled heavily as she realized that maybe in the end, this could have been a bad idea.

Somehow Haruhi was able to get Kyo calmed down and at the same time scolded the boys into behaving until they could at least sit down and eat. With attention focused back on dinner preparation, Haruhi still kept a close eye on Hikaru and Kaoru who she managed to persuade into helping out. The twins watched the rice cooker, keeping an eye on it to ensure that the rice wasn't over cooked. Kyo stirred the bubbling curry gently in the cooking pot keeping the contents from sticking to the bottom. The sounds and smells of cooking food began to perfume the air, giving a new sort of atmosphere to the small home and even smoothed over the agitated aura that had surrounded Kyo for the passed ten minutes.

"Oi, Haruhi." Hikaru's gaze pried itself off the rice cooker for a moment, and looked back over his shoulder towards the brunette who had begun collecting the dinnerware. "The rice is done." He announced.

"Turn the dial down to the lowest setting, other than _off_." Haruhi instructed while setting five plates down on the counter for a moment as she reached up into the cabinet again to take out smaller saucers. "Kyo, how's the curry coming?"

The blue-eyed Sophomore tested the curry she had been carefully cooking on her own and perked up as the sweet-n-spicy tastes overpowered the senses. "Curry's ready." Kyo replied while giving her friend a thumbs up gesture along with a grin. Almost out of nowhere, Hikaru popped up at her shoulder, causing Kyo to tense up for a moment in response to the sudden appearance.

"Hm, looks like it's edible." He mused while staring down at the murky brown contents of the cooking pot on the stove. "What's it taste like?" The redhead further prodded while reaching for the tiny tasting saucer in Kyo's hand still holding a bit of curry in it.

Giving the older of the Hitachiin duo a rather flat look, Kyo moved her hand out of his reach and then quickly swallowed down the rest of the curry in the saucer to ensure that he had to wait for dinner itself now. "Ha!" Kyo gave him a rather smug grin as she seemed rather satisfied with her accomplishment.

"AH! Stingy!" Hikaru snapped while trying to still reach out for the saucer from over Kyo's shoulder, hoping that she hadn't actually done that for real.

"You can wait until we sit down and eat!" Kyo snapped right back, her cat ears present and tail accounted for as she matched scowling glares with Hikaru.

"Hoo boy." Kaoru muttered while exhaling a sigh at how alike his brother and Kyo were acting at the moment. The two were becoming good friend whether they wanted to admit it or not, and that small thought caused Kaoru to smile a bit while shaking his head.

Haruhi pulled an even look across her face while gathering up the table settings, choosing to ignore the fact that Hikaru and Kyo were now battling it out in a small scuffle in her kitchen. Passing into the sitting room, Haruhi finally allowed the sigh she had been holding to slip out as she began setting the table, the ruckus from the kitchen floating in and caught the attention of her father. Looking back over his shoulder towards the kitchen, as whatever was going on in there seemed much more interesting than what was on TV.

"I just want a taste!" Hikaru's voice shouted.

"And I told you no!" Kyo's voice shot back at an equal volume level.

"Stop being so selfish!"

"I'm not being selfish! You're the one who's being selfish!"

"Gimme!"

"Hell no!"

"Paper fan-senpai is a brat!"

"Look who's talking!"

"I hope you choke on your rice!"

"Go swallow a knife!"

Ryoji looked over at his daughter who held a rather defeated look on her face as she continued to seat the table and tried not to listen to the argument coming out of the kitchen. "Are you sure they're not related or anything?" A chuckle escaped through his question while the shouting continued in the background, each retort and comment trying to one up the previous.

"To tell you the truth I don't even think they're the right age." Haruhi muttered while setting down the final plate in time to flinch upon what sounded like a startled cry coming from possibly Kaoru who had been left in the kitchen to watch. _That didn't sound good._ Haruhi groaned quietly as she stood up to her feet.

"Haruhi." Ryoji called his daughter's name softly to catch her attention. Once her brown eyes were on him, he offered her a smile. "I don't think she would kill him in our kitchen. Kyo-san seems far too polite to do that." His words coming out in what sounded like a reassuring comfort to the Freshman, however... "She does strike me though, as the kind of person who would wait until they left to kill him in the worst possible manner available to her." Ryoji pointed out as if this were an enlightening bit of fact.

"Dad." Haruhi's tone held a warning to it as she clenched a fist at her side and slowly started to raise it up to chest level while a shadow was cast across the upper half of her face.

A nervous laugh escaped Ryoji while a sheepish look made its way across his face as he knew he had pushed the wrong button with that last little bit of his. "N-Now Haruhi, there's no need to get riled up." He stuttered.

Somehow dinner managed to make its way to the table, as did all the accounted for persons who were dinning that night in the Fujioka residence. Both Kyo and Hikaru sported a bandage each somewhere on themselves; Hikaru holding his across the left cheek, and Kyo's wrapped about her index finger while a smaller one was stuck along her right jawline. Both had rather irritated looks on their faces, Kyo's brow twitched over her left eye as she sat with hands in her lap and feet tucked under her in a stubborn and forced manner, while Hikaru glared over at her from his brother's side. Ryoji held what looked like a somewhat nervous smile while a bead of sweat held its place along his left temple, the tension between the two could be felt sizzling in the air that separated them from one another.

Haruhi dished out the meal with a solemn look on her face, as she was slowly starting to regret having agreed to the idea of the twins coming over with Kyo for dinner. Once all the plates were filled and sitting before everyone, the group began to eat.

"Itadakimasu." Ryoji sang out while scooping up a spoon full of curry. Swallowing the small amount of food, his dark eyes lit up excitedly as the taste of the curry was delicious and passed with flying colors on his part. "Kyo-san, it's delicious!" He exclaimed with big eyes staring down the table at the dark haired teen.

"Really?" Hikaru lifted a brow as he looked down at his own plate, giving the food a somewhat questioning glare. Should he dare try the concoction that Kyo had cooked up in the kitchen as a trial run for a Home Economics exam? _What if Haruhi's dad is just being nice, and this stuff is horrible? I don't want to die from food poisoning! _Grimacing at his own thoughts, Hikaru glanced over at his twin brother from the corner of his eye to watch as Kaoru lifted spoonful of the curry to his mouth. A nervous sense of panic started to pulsate through the boy, every second passing in a sluggish manner as Kaoru finally dumped the spoon of food into his mouth and started chewing. _Kaoru!_

After a few chews, and the initial first taste test, Kaoru paused a moment in his movements with eyes staring down at his plate for a rather lengthy period of time that was starting to worry Hikaru. "...it is delicious." He murmured, eyes growing wide in surprise to this fact that it tasted rather good.

Haruhi was the next to take a bite of the dinner prepared by Kyo, and like her father and Kaoru had, she too found it to be rather tasty. "Wow! Kyo, you should be able to pass your exam without a problem." She pointed out while taking in another bite of the curry and rice.

Kyo grinned in response to the praise and approval she was receiving from three out of four recipients to her home cooked meal. However, she glanced over at the still hesitating Hikaru who was eying the plate before him with a suspicious stare. "Weren't you just trying to scramble over me in the kitchen for a taste?" Her mocking question earned her a rather unpleasant glare from the boy across from her, but grinned anyways as she knew that it had hit a nerve.

"What's your point?!" He snarled, agitated by the stares now bearing down on him from every side of the table. A rather smug look from Kyo was all it took for Hikaru to stubbornly scoop up a hill of the curry and shove it in his mouth. Munching furiously before swallowing hard and slamming his spoon down on the table while shooting a rather mixed glare at Kyo, who held a rather curious stare of her own. A long quiet pause choked the sitting room, and lulled over the table like a smothering blanket until finally... "It's good." Hikaru muttered while dropping his gaze and stared off to his left where there was only an empty space, in an attempt to the creeping blush of embarrassment trying to scrawl its way across the top of his cheeks and bridge of his nose.

Haruhi, Ryoji, Kyo and Kaoru all faulted in response to Hikaru's reluctant agreement to the food tasting good. Recovering, Ryoji laughed as he pushed himself up back into a sitting position at the table. "Haruhi taught you well, Kyo-san." He grinned while taking up another spoonful of the meal and chomped down on it. "Ah! It tickles the taste buds so delicately! The sweet-n-spicy aroma is excellent!" Ryoji chirped while savoring the meal.

Kyo rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I'm not that great of cook, Fujioka-san. But thank you very much." She replied while taking a drink from her water glass.

"So, do you think you'll be able to remember all the steps during your exam?" Haruhi asked while cutting down a large chunk of beef that she wasn't about to shove into her mouth in an attempt to chew it down.

"I think so. As long as I go over the recipe a few times, I should be fine. We're not allowed to use recipe cards during the exam." Kyo replied, her spoon dragging long swirling lines through the curry sauce. "Even if I miss a step, Nohara-sensei says I'll still make it through with a passing grade."

Kaoru lifted a brow as something finally struck him as curious. "Kyo-senpai, why did you take up that class anyways? I don't see a reason as to why you need to know how to cook when you'll have people to do it for you for the better part of your life." Kaoru pointed out while lifting his spoon to his mouth. Even Hikaru nodded in agreement to this question, the spoon sticking out from his mouth as he had been in the midst of eating.

The question hung out in the open as it had caught Kyo off-guard and prickled the interest of Ryoji at the same time as he glanced at the dark haired teen from over the top of his glass. _That's right. Haruhi had mentioned that Kyo-san was an Uchiwa. _His brow furrowed a bit as another thought struck him while he watched Kyo. _She's not Japanese. At least not physically. _

"Well, I figured that I should at least know a few of the basics before leaving high school." Kyo replied while scratching the tip of her nose. "Even if there would always be someone else to do it for me. I'd rather not live an entirely sheltered life beneath the safeguard of my family's wealth."

"Good for you kiddo!" Ryoji exclaimed while raising his glass with a massive grin on his face. "One day you'll make some guy really lucky." He laughed, while his jovial remark had Kyo burning red with embarrassment and staring down at her half empty plate.

"Dad!" Haruhi held a reprimanding tone to her voice as she was just short of shaking her finger at him.

Hikaru and Kaoru grinned like the Cheshire as they exchanged looks with one another from the corner of their eye. Their 'prank war' had yet to actually be done and over with, and thus this would be impressive ammo to use on their opponent. However, the brothers found it rather curious when they watched a rather shy smile tug out the corners of Kyo's mouth suddenly amidst Ryoji's laughter and Haruhi's scolding remarks. Hikaru's head tilted to the right just a little as he watched the older girl, a studious look forming a faint furrow upon his brow. _Why is she smiling like that? Did she want to hear something like that for a compliment? _A confused frown formed on Hikaru's face as he crossed his arms, thoughts still swarming about the assumption he had come around too. Stealing a quick glance over at Kaoru, he noted the similar curiosity worming its way through his brother, the rather intrigued look on Kaoru only further pushed several other questions into Hikaru's thinking.

Aside from a few more remarks on the food, dinner finished with everyone feeling rather satisfied and full. Once the table had been cleared, dishes washed and put away, and the kitchen wiped down. The small group surrounded the sitting room table again with a cup of tea steaming before each of them and a plate of rice cakes sitting within reach at the center of the table. Conversation drifted between various things; school, family, the weather, and finally came to rest on what was being planned for winter break on the part of each individual.

"Neh, Haruhi, I wanted ask you about winter break." Kyo pipped up after setting aside her tea, and once she had not only the brunette's attention on her but also the rest of the table, Kyo continued, "My parents and I are heading up to one of the privately owned onsen my grandparents run for a informal family get together since _he's_ home early. My mom said I could invite a friend to come with me, and I was wondering if you would like to come?"

Haruhi sat in a stunned silence, rice cracker hanging out of her mouth between her lips as she tried to process what had just been asked of her. However, her father was near beside himself with what looked like utter awe at the invitation extended to his daughter.

"Wow, an onsen." Ryoji murmured in what seemed like awe. "And an Uchiwa owned one at that. I heard that your family's onsens are some of the best to visit. Which one do your grandparents run?" He asked, a sense of excitement tainting his words while the glowing look in his eyes only seemed to further grow.

Kyo nodded. "My grandparents run the one in the Nara Prefecture. They actually live there all year round." She explained, almost sounding as though she recited it by memory. "It's the only onsen I actually like visiting."

The twins exchanged looks with one another and then stared across the table at Kyo with a somewhat confused look. "I thought you didn't like the water." Kaoru pointed out, recalling the last time he and Hikaru had tried to "trip" her into the water fountain pond out in front of the South Building. The brothers nearly lost their lives for that little escapade.

"Normally I don't, but I like the calming atmosphere of the onsen. That and I usually don't have to worry about someone trying to make the experience horrible." Kyo's face pulled into a sour look at the thought of every time she had been unwillingly thrown into a body of water.

"I don't know." Haruhi murmured while glancing over at her father, who seemed lost in his own daydreams of visiting an onsen, an Uchiwa onsen. "Would you be fine by yourself dad, if I went with Kyo and her family?" She asked cautiously, worried that somehow he wouldn't get along without her there to cook dinner and pick up groceries.

Ryoji waved his daughter off sheepishly. "Haruhi, I'm quite capable of taking care of myself." He laughed while trying to look as conveincing as possible to prove his point. "You should go with Kyo-san and her family. It'll be an experience you'll enjoy." Ryoji grinned while patting Haruhi on her shoulder. "Kyo-san, I leave Haruhi in your care." He smiled over at the dark haired teen who looked rather excited to hear that.

"Hmmm, neh, Kaoru." Hikaru glanced over at his brother with a rather devious look starting to crack its way into view. "Didn't mom say we were going to visit an onsen soon?"

"I believe you're right Hikaru." Kaoru returned, catching on to his brother's plan almost immediately. "I believe she had a business meeting of some kind with the owner's wife. Something about new robes and the like for guest use...if I'm not mistaken we're heading for the Nara Prefecture." He snickered behind his hand, the same devious look spreading out from behind to match his brother's.

Kyo's brow twitched as she eyed the twins suspiciously. "What was that?"

"Wait a minute now, they could be talking about another onsen." Haruhi tried to assure her friend. "But, thank you Kyo, I am honored to be invited along to your family's onsen." She added in while giving her a rather friendly smile as excitement trembled through her deep down. _I wonder is they serve otoro at the onsen since it belongs to Kyo's family? _

Hikaru and Kaoru snickered behind their hands before throwing an arm over one another's shoulders, a straightforward look plastered on their faces as they started speaking in unison. "Nope. Our mother has a business meeting with Uchiwa Fuu at the onsen she runs with her husband in the Nara Prefecture. So that means, we get to meet the rest of Kyo's family!" They cheered.

Kyo's forehead hit the table. "There is no god."

* * *

**Japanese terms used this chapter, as they appear in order of appearance:**

_Okama: _A man who dresses like a woman (Haruhi's father is a famous okama at an Okama Bar)_  
_

_Onsen_: A Japanese hot spring that is either indoor or outdoor (The Uchiwa family derives its wealth from owning and operating some of the countries oldest _onsen_ in the mountain countryside.)

_Tadaima_: I'm Home

_Okaeri nasai_: Welcome Home

_Konban-wa_: Good Evening

_Oyaji:_ An informal word meaning 'dad'

_Hai_: Yes/Yeah/Okay

_Itadakimasu:_ I shall receive


	22. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 1

**SPECIAL AUTHOR'S NOTE: **To all my dedicated and awesome readers of HEY, JULIET!; there will be chance for you to meet Uchiwa Kyo herself! Or at least her creator (laughs sheepishly).

This year I will be attending ANIME EXPO 2007, and if any of you happen to be attending as well then please feel free to e-mail me. My e-mail address can be found in my profile page. Hope to see some of you there!

_Kunoichi of Havok_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Two**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part One**_

"Someone once said, _three's a crowd_." Kyo recited while staring off across the snow powdered landscape of a beautiful bonsai garden that held a koi pond at is center. The gentle murmur of a bamboo fountain clinked beside the koi pond, feeding in an additional water source. Tranquility at its finest in the early hours of the day. "The dumb bastard probably never met Hitachiin twins."

A loud bout of laughter erupted through the serene silence of the bonsai garden that intermingled with the crunch of running footsteps. The soft whizzing sound of a snowball soaring through the air in a perfect arc that ended abruptly when the molded ball struck Kyo dead on in the middle of her forehead. Frozen, icy, cold slush stuck to Kyo's face for a brief few seconds before it suddenly melted off, evaporating into steam as the mighty and infamous temper of Uchiwa Kyo ignited.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Kyo snarled while swiping off the rest of the snow that still clung to her face. The vein on her left temple was visibly pulsing to only further accentuate her anger at that moment.

Unbridled laughter exploded through the bonsai garden as Hikaru and Kaoru were doubled over beside the koi pond. Kaoru was on his knees, an arm wrapped about his middle, laughing tears in his eyes, and a free hand slapping the ground while his brother was near toppling over top of him. "Kyo-chan, you should have seen your face!" Kaoru choked out through the body shaking laughter that was threatening to completely send him to the ground all the way.

Accounted for at that moment, were the ears and tail of a feral cat that decorated Kyo's appearance as she gripped the rail of the porch she had been standing on for the past fifteen minutes. "I swear to god, you two are gonna die on this mountain!" Kyo hissed while vaulting over the rail like a complete pro, and raced towards the koi pond with fangs pulled and claws extended out. For the next twelve minutes, the dark haired girl would chase the twins about the garden with at least a good running leap between them.

It had only one day thus far at the onsen owned and run by the Uchiwa family, and already Kyo had been put through more grief than she had yet to suffer at Ouran on a regular basis. Between the mere presence of her older cousin in the onsen, and having to make sure that Hikaru and Kaoru didn't catch her off guard with a new prank, it somehow fell upon Haruhi to make sure that Kyo didn't completely loose her mind.

"GET BACK HERE!"

_**An entire thirty minutes later...**_

"I think I hate my life." Kyo panted, the upper half of her body stretched out over a table top inside the common sitting room. A weary and almost dead look pulled down the corners of her face while bags had suddenly formed beneath her eyes.

Haruhi stared down at her friend with a sympathetic and somewhat unsure smile. "Um...Kyo..." She trailed off, not sure whether or not that she should even bring anything up at this point since it looked as though the older girl was about to pass out from exhaustion. Instead, Haruhi decided to forgo the fact that she was about to a Captain Obvious card in the seconds. "Are you okay?"

Kyo's head turned on the table, her withered gaze narrowing in a forced glare that had Haruhi choking out a strangled gasp as a bead of sweat slipped down her temple. "How can you even have the nerve to ask me that?!" She grumbled.

In response, Haruhi could only chuckle nervously. However, the snickers of two certain first year students trickled in and paused the nervous chuckle, causing Haruhi to feel sweat forming at the top of her temple yet again. Both Hikaru and Kaoru had appeared at the far end of the table, keeping a decent amount of distance between them and Kyo. As a safety precaution of course, and to further ensure a head start if she decided to chase them down again.

"Now how can you possibly hate your life when we're in it?" Hikaru asked, a cheeky grin spread out across his face.

Kyo shot the redhead a rather unsettling look. "I could think of a few reasons." She grumbled while propping an elbow up on the table to lean the side of her face into the palm of her hand. "It's too early for this kind of stuff anyways." Kyo sighed.

"Neh, neh, Kyo-neechan! What's too early for what?"

All four teens sat up a bit in response to the question, blinking dumbly a few times as they had yet to actually see who it was that the disembodied voice belonged too. It's pitch and tone sounded as though it belonged to a child. A very young child at that. Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged looks with one another before glancing over at Kyo with raised brows. "This onsen is haunted." They announced in unison, their tone rather flat as they didn't find this at all amusing after recalling the whole Halloween incident.

"It is not haunted!" Kyo snapped back in reply, brow twitching out pure annoyance with their jumping to conclusions bit.

Out of nowhere, a small boy popped up from behind Kyo, his small form flopping out across the top of her head. His small size suggested he had to at least be in kindergarten. However, his attitude and personality seemed rather out of place, especially as he waged a finger at the twins and tutted. "Tch, tch, tch! This onsen is not haunted! The only place haunted in this area is the old shrine." He pointed out as though they should have known this. "That and possibly Kyo-neechan's bedroom."

Hikaru stared at the small boy with a rather even and narrow eyed look. "Paper fan-senpai...you have something growing out of your head." He pointed, while Kaoru stared in a more wide-eyed blinking manner but also nodded in agreement to his brother's statement.

Staring up in a near cross-eyed manner and tilting her head back a bit, Kyo stared up at the small boy laying half way across her head. The look on her face suggested that she knew the kid, that and the fact she had yet to yank him off and toss him across the room seemed to also strongly support this theory in the eyes of Kyo's friends sitting in the room. "Ah, Yusuke-kun."

"Yo, Kyo-neechan! You're looking pretty hot today!" The boy lifted a hand in further addition to his greeting, while his comments caught Haruhi and the twins a bit off-guard.

"Eh-he, isn't he just cute." Haruhi chuckled even in her state of shock. Her direction was now fixated on Kyo with what looked like an underlying demand for an explanation concerning the kid perched upon the top of her head. "Kyo-senpai, who is this?"

Kyo motioned with a beckoning gesture for the small boy to come down from her head, especially since he was now rubbing his cheek against the crown of her head and mumbling something or other about how soft her hair was and how it reminded him of his pet dog. Finally yanking him down, and wincing at the same time since he decided to try and hang on to her head, Kyo set him down in front of her on the table and then spun him about to face her friends. A serious scowl started to twist at the center of her brow as her scalp still ached from the pull on her hair. "Introduce yourself please."

"Konnichiwa. My name is Uchiwa Yusuke. Five years old." He sat down on his knees and bowed down before them. "Hajimemashite, friends of Kyo-neechan from that weird school she goes to." Yusuke continued bowing as he spoke, and earned for his weird behavior a rather swift knock to the back of his head.

While the knot at the back of Yusuke's head lumped, Kyo did her best to try and pull back on her annoyance with the little boy's unusual greeting. "Just say 'hello' next time." Kyo muttered while rubbing the top of her fist into the crown of Yusuke's head, under which the five-year-old squirmed a bit. "This would be my youngest cousin." She explained.

Haruhi nodded at this and then leaned forward towards Yusuke with a smile. "Hajimemashite, Yusuke-kun. My name's Fujioka Haruhi." She greeted.

Before either Haruhi or Kyo could say anything else, the twins popped up in between them with rather large smiles on their faces. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" The called out in unison while presenting themselves rather dramatically. "We are Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru!" Again, spoken in unison to the five-year-old Uchiwa still sitting on the table. Yusuke stared at them with a sense of awe while nodding rather quickly at their introduction.

"So what's this about a shrine and Kyo-senpai's bedroom being haunted?" Hikaru queried while lifting both a curious and intrigued brow.

Yusuke again nodded, while crossing his arms over his small chest, his face taking on a much more serious look. "It's quite true. The shrine that sits here with the family onsen, is haunted by the spirits of our ancestors; shinobi who fought and died here during some of the great historical wars." He lifted a finger up as he came around to what he considered his more important bit of information. "As for Kyo-neechan's bedroom – gah!" Yusuke was cute short as he received yet another swift knock to the back of his head. Tutting out a small hiss, Yusuke whirled about to face his older cousin with a teary-eyed, angry glare while holding his hands down on the sore spot throbbing just on the original knot he had received first. "What was that for?!"

"Stop making up stories!" Kyo snapped, her proverbial cat persona very much apparent along with hackles raised and tail fuzzed out. "People are going to start getting the wrong idea every time you say that!"

"Is this how you treat **bloody** relatives you haven't seen in forever?!" Yusuke snapped back, eyes fixated in a child-like glare, however, his misuse of words caused everyone in the room to face fault (and in the case of Haruhi, Hikaru, and Kaoru; held a bead of sweat rolling down their temple).

Kyo growled lowly in her throat, fist clenching and shaking as it rose up in plain view while a scowl twisted her brow. "You mean, **blood** relatives." She corrected and at the same time tried to claim a hold on her growing annoyance with the small boy. "And I haven't seen you _in forever_, I saw you just last week before we all left."

Yusuke tapped the bottom of his chin, a thoughtful look pressing its way across his face as he started the process of recalling this event. "Hmm, last week, last week, last week...Oh! That's right! Kira-niichan bought me ice cream that day afterwards!" A cloud of doom seemed to suddenly drown the four teens, sending them into sitting positions that had their backs facing Yusuke, who watched them with a sense of curiosity and confusion looking between them all. Exhaling heavily in an exaggerated manner, Yusuke shrugged. "Hoo boy. Very depressing."

"Uh, Kyo." Haruhi glanced over to her sulking friend who was practically stretched out on her floor belly down. "I know you said that you would stay, and I quote - 'Way the hell away from _him_.'." Haruhi did her best Kyo impersonation possibly to validate her point, "But is that even going to be possible here at the onsen?"

The older girl stared off at the wall, her gaze holding a rather bitter and narrowed look while the rest of her face was hidden behind her arms. The absence of a quick reply, as had been expected from her, had both Hikaru and Kaoru edging forward with twitching ears eager to hear what she had to say. Exhaling a forced sigh, Kyo shrugged even her sprawled out position on the floor. "I doubt it." She replied, before gagging out a startled cry as Yusuke jumped down off the table and landed straight atop her back in a seated position.

"Neh, neh, Kyo-neechan! Mama wanted me to come tell you that lunch is ready." Yusuke announced, hands held up high over his head.

"_Domo arigato gozaimasu._" Kyo growled out through clenched teeth, while in the background the twins snickered.

There was sort of an odd moment in which Kyo rolled around on the ground in an attempt to free her back of a now clinging younger cousin, only to find that the kid had decided to play his _Spider-Man _card, and was firmly attached (upside down at that) to Kyo's back even as she stood up. This little spectacle had the other three in the room spontaneously clapping out of the pure dumbfounded disbelief that they had slipped into.

"Don't encourage him!" Kyo shouted back at their clapping.

* * *

Onechan: _sister (older) – Yusuke calls Kyo, Kyo-neechan_

Hajimemashite: _How do you do_

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu: _Pleased to meet you_

Oniichan: _brother (older) – Yusuke calls Kira, Kira-niichan_

Domo arigato gozaimasu: _Thank you (very much)_

**Author's End Note: **I would like to point out now, before anyone asks, that yes I did base Kyo's young cousin Yusuke off the main character in Crayon Shin-Chan; Shinnosuke (aka Shin-chan)! Figured Kyo needed more than the twins and Kira to drive her insane at the onsen!


	23. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 2

_**Chapter Twenty-three**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Two**  
**(The Most Painful Phone Call...EVER)**_

Lunch had been a rather uncomfortable event for the small group as Kira had joined the table, leaving Kyo, Kaoru, and Hikaru to stare unevenly across at the older boy as they ate their food in a rather rough manner. Haruhi tried her best to ignore the stares radiating at her side, but half way through lunch when Kira reached out for something off one of the food platters the defensive postures and prepared moments of attack kicked in on the trio's part, leaving Haruhi exhale in a defeated manner with her head dropping a bit. Kira noticed this, in fact he had noticed the death glares the moment he stepped inside of the dining room. A bit troubling to say the least. The only ones at the table who seemed to be oblivious to the whole tension radiating between the two sides; was little Yusuke and grandparents.

"Neh, neh, Kyo-chan, how has school been?" Kyo's grandmother, Uchiwa Fuu, questioned as she sat munching on the pickled radish with a small grin worked out across her face.

"Yeah." Kyo muttered out a response and it seemed as though she hadn't exactly heard what was asked of her since she seemed more preoccupied with staring down her older cousin from across the table.

Fuu glanced over at her husband with a raised brow and a confused look on her face. "I don't understand."

Chuckling, Uchiwa Hiroshi waved her off. "Kyo-chan isn't even listening to you. She's too focused on sending Kira-chan the evil eye along with her two friends." He pointed out while reaching for piece of pickled radish for himself.

"Ah. Yes, I see it now. Don't suppose that the two of them had another round at one another, do you?" Fuu wondered aloud while glancing up towards the ceiling in thought, an odd habit of hers that had since been rubbed off on Kyo.

"It's quite possible. They usually never act this way unless of course they have gotten into one other infamous scuffles." Hiroshi nodded in agreement to this theory before chomping down on the small bit of food held with his chopsticks. "Ah, delicious!" He murmured behind his grin.

Fuu exhaled a sigh as she couldn't help but believe in this as well. "I wish those two wouldn't fight so much."

"And I wish you'd cook yakitori once in a while, but I don't see that happening any time soon." Hiroshi burst into a bout of loud laughter that was cut short as he strangled a choking noise before his head flopped forward, a rather nasty lump forming at the back of his head. "You're the apple of my eye Fuu dear."

"And you're the loud mouth of mine." Fuu grumbled while holding a much more rigid posture as she took up her rice bowl and began eating again. While at first her gaze was narrowed down on her rice bowl, Uchiwa Fuu slowly allowed her eyes to wander back up and stare across towards her granddaughter. At a glance, it was rather comical at how irritated that Kyo looked while staring straight at Kira and eating at the same time. Her cat ears and tail were sticking straight up with each and every hair fluffed out in a frazzled manner. The rather vivid display of annoyance caused a bead of sweat to form along Fuu's left temple. _Why does she look like she's about to leap over the table and strangle him?_

"Neh, neh, Kyo-neechan! Can you take me to the shrine after lunch?" Yusuke suddenly pipped up through a mouth stuffed with rice and other bits of lunch. His manners were lacking at the moment.

Breaking the one-sided staring contest as she looked over to her small cousin, Kyo held a rather puzzled look on her face that was only further accented with a raised brow. "Why do you want to go the shrine?"

Yusuke shoveled another load of rice into his open mouth before answering. "I want to go make a wish at the **pale**." Rice flew from his mouth as he spoke, causing the twins to move side to side in order to dodge the sticky bits coming at them with seemingly lightning speed.

"You mean **well**." Both Kyo and Kira corrected the five-year-old in unison without even timing it as both were used to instinctively speaking up when Yusuke misused his own vocabulary.

However, this caused Kyo to shoot a rather vicious look over at her older cousin Kira that was followed up by the equally agitated glares of both Hikaru and Kaoru. It could be said that these were the only times thus far that the Hitachiin twins and Uchiwa Kyo held the same side and acted like a triple tag-team. The very rare and few times. As Kyo opened her mouth to shoot something out at Kira, only to find that a rather cheery melody accompanied by the background music and everything:

'Miageta Yozora no Hoshi-tachi no hikari,

Miageta Yozora no Hoshi-tachi no hikari

Hitotsu Futatsu kane no ne wa hibiku

Kokoro no naka de hidoki fukaku

Monogatari no you na ishi ga shizuku'

Kyo slapped both hands over her mouth. Everyone stared silent and wide-eyed at her, a visible bead of sweat having formed on their temples. Cautiously, Kyo slipped her hands off her mouth and as soon as she started to part her lips, the same verse spewed forth and sent everyone into stumbled fault in response. Hikaru and Kaoru scrambled backwards away from her while Haruhi had jerked backwards a bit.

"Wow! Kyo-neechan is a music box!" Yusuke shouted while throwing his hands up in the air. "Do it again!"

Kira shook his head at the excited Yusuke who had proceeded to start a rather odd sort of ceremonial dance to further increase the chances of Kyo acting as a speaker box. "Kyo isn't a music box, Yusuke." He corrected while nodding in Kyo's direction. "Her cellphone is ringing."

Another few seconds of the same song played out again while Kyo searched her self for wherever she had shoved her cell phone too. It took Kaoru reaching over carefully and plucking the small flip-phone from inside the hood of her long sleeved sweater, where it had been misplaced during the final argument between Kyo and Hikaru on their way to the dinning room. Handing the phone out to Kyo as it made its final go through of the ring tone. Glancing down at the ID screen, Kyo flinched horribly and held what looked like near terror on her face.

This intrigued everyone else at the table and before the ring tone could even end, Yusuke had scrambled his way across the table while Fuu and Hiroshi popped up from behind Kaoru along with Haruhi. The bright fluorescent blue LCD screen flashed one name that sent the twins and Haruhi flinching with a somewhat sick look on their faces. Hikaru grabbed Kyo by the collar of her shirt and shook her as fast as possible with a threatening and angled look on his face. "DON'T YOU DARE ANSWER THAT CALL!"


	24. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 3

_**Chapter Twenty-Four**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Three**_

"So, Kyo-senpai, what part of _'don't answer that'_ and me shaking you," Hikaru sat cross-legged on the first step of the wooden porch, arms tucked stubbornly across his chest while a very flat look was plastered across his face. However the pulsing vein that stuck out on his left temple was a dead giveaway to his pure and utter annoyance towards what stood out in the courtyard that the front porch stepped down into, "did you not understand?" He finally growled, head turning to stare death incarnate at the older teen sitting on the step with him.

Kyo's brow twitched as she looked over to Hikaru to meet his gaze. "And just how the hell was I supposed to know that Tamaki would use Kyoya's cell phone to call me?" She retorted back in an unusually calm but shaky voice that suggested her own annoyance to this whole thing as well. However, she held a rather forced grin on her face.

"That's why I said not to answer the phone!" Hikaru returned with a forced grin of his own. "You really are dumb aren't you?"

"If I am, it's because I've hung around you too long!" Kyo shot back, a vein now throbbing at her left temple to mimic Kaoru.

Both teens started to laugh in a frustrated sort of way that began with a low chuckle and slowly grew into a loud insane sort of laugh that had small Yusuke fearing for his own personal safety at the moment since he sat right between the two of them. "Kyo-neechan and Hikaru-san are scary." He muttered quietly with a quivering voice.

"HARUHI! ARE YOU OKAY?! DID THEY DO ANYTHING TO YOU?!"

The screeching shout sent all three bodies sitting on the porch toppling forward with hands clamped over their ears in an attempt to spare their hearing from possibly being damaged permanently. Landing down on the hard sandy earth at the foot of the small flight of stairs, Kyo and Hikaru had just barely missed bumping heads while Yusuke laid sprawled out over both of the teens in a dazed and confused state. All three of them had stars floating across their vision.

"Kyo-neechan, you have incredibly weird friends." Yusuke gargled as he tried to sit up.

Kyo seem to agree with this even in her dazed state as she managed to somehow nod. "Thanks." She muttered, a hand coming up to press against her forehead in an attempt to stop the spinning.

Pushing Yusuke off them, Hikaru and Kyo managed to at least sit up in a cross-legged position and now stared off towards the source of near ear-splitting commotion. Hikaru held a scowl on his face while rubbing at his right ear rather roughly to rid it of the dull ringing buzz that seemed to still linger within his hearing. Kyo caught sight of the scowl out of the corner of her eye and was about to fully look his way when Yusuke popped back into view in an upside down manner. He peered down into her face from the place on top of her head with a rather narrowed and studious stare. The two cousins were nose to nose with one another. Kyo held a rather wide blinking stare as if questioning what his look was all about in the first place.

"What?"

Yusuke grunted before twisting his little body so he still hung off Kyo's head but now looked at Hikaru in an upside down position reminiscent to a snake's stretching and unnatural ability to grip to any type of surface without the aid of hands or imposable thumbs. Pointing at Hikaru, Yusuke now held a rather unamused look on his face. "Stay away from my Kyo-neechan." He muttered darkly.

His statement caught both teens off-guard and pull startled looks momentarily before shouting at him in near unison with irritated looks of their own. "Don't be stupid!"

"Why didn't you call?! Why didn't you tell us?! Don't you care about how these running off acts worry your Father?!"

Kyo winced at the screeching wail of the tall blonde that still held a very unhappy looking Haruhi tightly to him, and exhaled a rather uneven sigh as she finally dared to even look towards the courtyard again. Aside from Suoh Tamaki; Haninozuka Mitsukuni (aka Hunny-senpai), Ohtori Kyoya, and the ever stoic Morinozuka Takashi (aka Mori-senpai) were standing in a gathered manner in the stone tablet paved front courtyard of the Uchiwa onsen. It hadn't taken more than the sneaky phone call on Tamaki's part by using Kyoya's cell phone to get in contact with Kyo and find out where they were, and then only an hour before the rest of the Host Club appeared in the Nara Prefecture and right at the front door.

Tamaki's phone call had nearly blown out Kyo's hearing in her left ear as he exploded with complete and utter panic that made his frustration about the time his dog Antoinette went missing, look like minor hysterics. Everyone in the room could hear the frantic boy on the other end, and while Kyo try to calm him down, Hikaru continued to further shake her out of frustration to her answering the phone call even though she had thought it to be Kyoya as the ID screen suggested. Like the overly exaggerated drama queen, or king, that he was, Tamaki appeared at the family owned onsen with the rest of the Host Club in a large helicopter that was owned privately by the Suoh family but looked like it should have been apart of the military.

And so, Tamaki now was drilling Haruhi with hundreds if not possibly thousands of questions while Kaoru hung off the side and was similarly berated by Hunny in a much more oddly cute scolding manner than the comical manner portrayed by the other blonde. Kyo and Hikaru were ignored for the moment, left to watch as spectators along with Yusuke who still remained comfortably flopped across the top of Kyo's head.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're next in-line to be interrogated by Tamaki?" Kyo muttered under her breath, the question aimed towards Hikaru who was still scowling.

"Because you're the one who invited Haruhi to come up here, and because you're the one who answered the damn phone when I told you not too!" Hikaru snapped quietly while shooting her a rather scathing glare, which was quickly returned along with barred teeth and a growl from Kyo.

"You picking a fight short-stack?!" Kyo challenged.

"I just might be!" Hikaru shot back.

Yusuke looked between his cousin and her friend a few times before exhaling a heavy sigh and lifting his hands up in a shrugged defeat. "Hoo boy." However, Yusuke happened to glance over at the exact time a red faced tall blonde was marching towards them and strangled a choke before patting Kyo quickly on the top of her head and pointed in a panicked manner. "Kyo-neechan, Kyo-neechan! You have a hungry gone guy coming your way!"

Momentarily pulled out of their argument, both Kyo and Hikaru glanced up at Yusuke with faulted looks on their faces. "**Angry blonde **guy." They corrected in unison, which caused Kyo to stare at Hikaru in a dumbfounded manner for a brief few seconds before she was yanked up to her feet and spun about to face a rather flustered looking King of the Host Club.

"Kyo, how could you?!" Tamaki accused, tears bubbling at the corners of his eyes.

"How could I what?" Kyo stuttered out as she had been sent into an dizzy spin that caused her sense of balance to waver. Even Yusuke looked rather pale as he had been taken along for the ride atop his cousin's head.

Tamaki sniffed a few times as if trying to compose himself before spewing out an answer. "How could you leave us behind and not tell us where you and Haruhi were going?" He whimpered while pulling her into a rather bone-crushing hug. "I thought we were friends!" Tamaki whined while holding her tighter and turning from left to right, taking the already dazed Kyo with him.

"Hmphfrumbrumphem!!"

"Uh?" Tamaki stopped swinging about and looked down at the dark haired girl he had caught up in his hold.

Yusuke popped up and perched himself in a half dangling position across the of back of Tamaki's right shoulder. "I believe she said 'I can't breathe'." Yusuke translated the muffled and horribly muted declaration that Kyo had tried to communicate, an index finger held up as if he were making some incredibly valid point.

"Oh really?" Tamaki looked at the small boy hanging off his shoulder like some parrot with a rather curious stare on his face. "She said that?"

Kyo yanked herself free with a huge gasp for air and at the same time performed a mad scramble of sorts to separate herself from Tamaki's vice-like grip. "Crap, I thought I was gonna die." She panted while doubled over a bit. Looking up at Tamaki through the long layers about her face that acted as bangs, Kyo lifted a brow of both mild annoyance and question at the blonde who seemed more intrigued now with her small cousin than whatever he had to demand out of her. "Tamaki, why did you feel the pressing need to rush up here with others?"

Wide curious amethyst eyes looked down at the still doubled over Kyo with a sense of deep thought before crouched down to her level and stared her straight in the eyes. "Because when I tried calling you home, Rangiku-san said that you and your parents were in the Nara Prefecture at the family onsen. So then I tried calling your cellphone and the operator said that the line was out of range. And then I called Haruhi to see if she knew when you had left, but her father said that she was gone for about four days. AND THEN, I heard that Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun were out of town as well...so I got worried that they may have kidnapped the two of you or something..." Tamaki's sentence dragged off into an incomprehensible mutter that had Kyo pulling a rather confused look to in response.

"So then why call me on Kyoya's cellphone?" Kyo asked, curious as to why the sneaky phone call bit was about.

Tamaki's face started to turn red all over again, causing the still present Yusuke to perk up at this and misinterpret it all wrong in every which way. Jumping down off Tamaki's shoulder, Yusuke ran over to his Oneechan's side and pointed at the older blonde with a rather very serious look on his face. "Ho ho! So it comes out! Yo, stay away from my Kyo-neechan, ya hear?"

There was a moment of dead silence before Kyo bit down on her lip briefly as she inhaled a large amount of air to prepare for her reply to this.

"CUT IT OUT! THAT'S NOT WHAT HE MEANT!"

A loud _ka-pow_ followed as Kyo's fist met the backside of Yusuke's head and a rather quickly forming knot appeared even as the five-year-old now hung his head sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. An ever present grin somewhat reminiscent to that which the twins often sported, curved up the corners of Yusuke's mouth as he huffed a chuckle. Tamaki had since scuttled backwards and tripped over himself so that he now sat in a rather undignified manner on the stone tablet grounds of the courtyard. Eyes wide and face near completely pale in response to the rather "scary Kyo". Further off to the side, the small group of Hunny, Mori, Kyoya, Kaoru, Haruhi, and Hikaru stared with even looks on their faces and a sweat beading down their temple in response to the "scary Kyo" display as well, and at the fact that her five-year-old cousin had such a perverted little mind at that young of an age.

"Kyon-chan...is scary." Hunny muttered aloud, to which everyone nodded in agreement with.


	25. The Great Winter break Escapade Part 4

_**Chapter Twenty-Five**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Four**_

Uchiwa Kira slid open the door to the main sitting room and could only stand there in a state of nullified shock that had the twenty-two year old just staring with an unreadable expression at this point.

"_Ran, ran, dan, dan, sugitsu-sugitsu, ri, ri, ra, ra, don-don, kon-kon! Jukujuku, ju, na-na, everyone together now!_"

Uchiwa Yusuke shuffled his way across the wide open floor of the sitting room, his arms rolling and twisting over one another while he swayed his small hips, taking great care to ensure that his rear end stuck out as far as possible. At one point, Yusuke even began to double-time his shuffle while smacking his bottom with both hands. The grinning up turned corners of his mouth could be seen even with his back turned to the door.

_There is something seriously wrong with this kid. I wonder if Misae-obachan dropped him on his head at one point when he was a baby...?_ Kira could only image what possibly could have occurred in order to explain his little cousin's antics since no one else in the Uchiwa family had such a per...ver... _Jii-chan_. A rather sour look pulled its way across Kira's face as he now was suddenly remembering one such family gathering that happened during the late spring, in which both grandpa Hiroshi and Yusuke danced the rather infamous "corn dance". A hand found its way to Kira's forehead as he tried to wipe that rather embarrassing image out of his mind.

"_Ken, ken, rin, rin, rin, un, un, din, din, kon-kon!_"

"There's just no way we can be related." Kira muttered while stepping into the sitting room and snapped the door shut behind him, which in turn of course broke Yusuke's performance in half as the little five-year-old leaned way back on one leg alone to stare accusingly at him. Blinking dumbly, as he was at a loss for words, Kira just pointed at the rather ballerina-esque move Yusuke had twisted himself into. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Ho ho, not one bit!" Yusuke declared before righting himself and kicking back one leg as he swung both arms out before him. "I'd like to see action film stars do this on their own!" Somehow, in some unexplainable way, Yusuke was perfectly balanced on his right foot and more importantly...on his tip toes.

"I'd like to see any other normal human do that." Kira muttered. Exhaling a rather uneven sigh in response to his little cousin's ability to do the seemingly impossible with his small body. _I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Most of us can move faster and flip around without an effort or second thought thanks to Jii-chan. _"Oi, Yusuke. Do you know where Kyo is?"

A few shaky nods came the five-year-old. Giving a long slow exhale, Yusuke tucked and rolled backwards to then pop up in front of his older cousin and raised a hand over his head as if he were in class. "Hai, hai! Kyo-neechan is next door with her weird friends!" He announced with a rather know-it-all tone to his voice that had a near distinction to that of a tour guide.

"Ah. Haruhi-kun and the twins, right." Kira rubbed the back of his neck as he realized that catching his "estranged" cousin by herself over the next three days was going to be a chore, but he was determined either way to talk to her alone.

"Hai hai! And those four other guys as well!"

Kira stared down at Yusuke with at a first, a blank look that suggested he was not quiet sure as to what he meant by that, but then a rather unsettling look fell upon him like a cloud of doom. _What the hell are the rest of them doing here?! _

Next door to the main sitting room, just as Yusuke had said she would be, Kyo sat cross-legged with arms tucked over her chest and just watched as everyone seemed to be in rather excited spirits while they examined the room and all its little odd bits and pieces that decorated the rather spacious area. Even the twins and Haruhi were looking about as they had yet to actually step inside nearly even half the rooms of the onsen, and this one was rather interesting with all the long runner tapestries hanging off the walls with old watercolors and mounted weapons that had been restored to near perfect condition.

The look that appeared on Kyo's face seemed a bit...odd. In fact, there really wasn't an expression to be found on the usually outwardly displayed teen who seemed to always wear her attitude and thoughts on her sleeve for everyone to just read for themselves. But at the moment, there was an even placid look to her oval shaped face as she just watched her friends swarm about the room as if they were in a museum of some sort. Whatever she was thinking, feeling, or even pondering, was lost to the rest of the viewing world.

It would be from the sudden tap to her nose that Kyo would finally snap back into the present. Blinking a few times, as if making sure she was still sure of where she was, Kyo turned her head to the left where a brand new face sat staring at her from a mimicked position on the floor beside her. She was dark haired like the majority of the Uchiwa family, blessed with big grey eyes and a small mouth that were picturesque to the likeness of a porcelain doll. Her small slender frame finished off the appearance and pronounced her to be within the end of her elementary school years.

"Ah, Seo-chan." Kyo muttered the girl's name with familiarity and recognition in her tone, but the look on her face was stuck on even.

The girl screwed up her face and offered out a rather unhappy glare as she puffed her cheeks out like some chipmunk. "You're just terrible!" She shouted while springing to her feet and stomping a foot to show her rather irritated state at being so casually greeted. "Kyo-neechan, you're still a lazy shirker!"

By now all eyes of the Host Club had zeroed in on Kyo and the younger girl fuming in a leering and near threatening manner. Hikaru and Kaoru held raised looks as they eyed the situation, and were mimicked oddly enough by the others. Catching sight of this from the corner of her eye, Kyo went stiff and an awkward grin cracked the side of her mouth. "Eh, uh, Seo-chan can you please lower your voice. No need to cause a scene kiddo." Kyo stated while waving her hands down at the girl in a plea for compliance to her request.

However, compliance to a request was something that seemed to lack in every member of the Uchiwa family apparently, as Uchiwa Seo grabbed her cousin by the collar of her shirt and near snarled as she jerked the older teen up into her face. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Holy crap! Is every woman in this family completely insane?!" Hikaru commented aloud as he nearly tripped over his brother in an attempt to put a vastly large amount of space between him and that little girl who had Kyo wide-eyed and shrinking.

"By the looks of it, I'd say they're more on the demanding side of things versus insane." Kyoya interjected as he observed the rather peculiar scene of younger cousin pushing the twice the size and twice the height older cousin around.

Kyo shot the speckled boy of the Ohtori family a panicked and yet irritated look. "Kyoya keep your comments to yourself!"

Seo's grip on her cousin's shirt collar tightened as she bowed her head so that the rounded tip of her chin rested against her chest. The bangs lowered like some ominous curtain over her eyes and cast a shadow across the upper half of her face. "Kyo-neechan," She paused her sentence a moment, allowing her tone to sear into Kyo like some hot iron preparing for the torture to fragile flesh. Kyo flinched in response, and nearly had a heart attack all at the same time as Seo looked up with a massive smile slathered across her face while tilting her dark head to the side ever so slightly. "Who are you're cute friends?" She giggled.

Off in some distant corner of the room, Hikaru was huddled over with a hand pressed to his one hundred mile an hour pounding heart, while Kaoru hovered behind him in an attempt to calm his panicking brother down the best he could. "If this was one of her pranks, she freaking wins the war." He muttered out through a shaking breath as the 180 degree personality change that had been pulled was just way too much.

Once they managed to calm Hikaru down and got him to slow his breathing, everyone was introduced to another of Kyo's younger cousins; Uchiwa Seo, Yusuke's older sister. Smiling brightly and bowing politely, Seo held her hands clasped before her lap in complete lady-like fashion. Even her manner of dress displayed a rather mature quality not often seen in kids her age as she sported a pencil skirt and long sleeved turtleneck while tucking her long hair back with rose shaped clips.

"I had no idea Kyo-neechan had such a large group of friends at Ouran already." Seo mused in wonder at the diverse looking group gathered in the room. "And you're all from the high class families like ours!" She grinned while pointing out such a painful obvious that it had Kyo face planting out of the utter shock that Seo was so blunt in her observation.

Kyoya chuckled as he adjusted his glasses. "Kyo certainly has an interesting family." His own grey-eyed gaze flickered up to smile his usual charming grin at the younger Uchiwa. "May I ask where it is that you attend school, Seo-san?"

"Oh, I attend the Furano Ryuohoku Academy for Young Women." Seo replied as if were just a simple question she had answered hundreds of times before.

Hunny's eyes grew wide. "Wow! You live all the way in Hokkaido?" He stared at her in a sort of growing awe while venturing closer. His speed of movement suggested that of a child wandering closer to the cage of a mammoth animal at the zoo, mesmerized by the fascination of something unseen before or so close. "Why do you live so far away? Do you not like living in Honshu?" Hunny questioned, his blonde head tilting to the side in an owlish manner.

Seo stared back at the Senior who stood at nearly her height, dark eyes blinking in a sort of dumb manner as she wasn't exactly used to having someone so small outrank her in age and stare at her like some sort of attraction at a theme park. "It's not that I don't like Honshu, it's just where my parents live to run the branched sect of the family business." Seo replied while now also mimicking Hunny's owl tilted stare for a moment.

There was an odd sort of pause as the two equally height pints stared at one another, causing everyone else in the room to momentarily choke on the air of humorous tension before nearly face planting in every which direction as the two sprang at one another and hugged as if they were long lost siblings finally reunited. Mori of course was the only one out of the group remained on his feet, yet he couldn't help but feel somewhat embarrassed in one way or another, as was apparent by the building bead of sweat slowly crawling its way down his temple.

"Kyo-senpai..." Hikaru started to mumble from his downed and near upturned crumpled position near the dark haired Uchiwa, amber eyes mute at this point as he slowly looked to his left.

"I swear to god, Hikaru." Kyo shot down whatever comment he had stored up at the moment and somehow untangled herself from the jumble on the floor. Standing back up to her feet, Kyo looked over at her younger cousin who seemed to rather excited as she spoke with Hunny, relating all her likes and dislikes against his to find that the Senior had so much in common with her, _It's inhuman. _But yet, a smile pulled at the corners of Kyo's blue eyes while the lips of her mouth twitched to express the same gesture.

Dusting herself off, Haruhi cast a quick glance towards her older friend and noticed the look that toyed at her usually sarcastic, imp, trickster masked face. But there was something that look on Kyo that pulled at the theoretical heart strings, and remind Haruhi of the look a parent usually displays when they've realized their child has grown-up or given away at a wedding. _She looks so happy for Seo, but why does she look so sad at the same time? _Shaking away the stray thought, Haruhi grinned anyways as she watched Hunny and Seo jump up and down together as they seemed to have agreed on something. That grin soon disappeared as the two bolted for Kyo's direction and stood in front of her like two excited puppies.

"Neh, neh, Kyo-neechan, can you take us up to the shrine? Hunny-senpai and I want to bake sweet potatoes like Jii-chan showed us last year!" Seo begged her cousin, large grey-eyes glossing over and shinning in a manner that had Tamaki near ready to applaud for sheer showmanship display.

"Kyon-chan will you take us there? I'll love you forever if you baked us sweet potatoes!" Hunny set out his own sort of begging and bribery as he wriggled with excitement to such an excursion with a tasty reward. "Please, please, pleeeeeaaaseee!!"

Kyo stood stupid with the two pushing their wish on her, begging as if the world depended on whether or not they got that sweet potato. She at first could only stutter out um's, eh's, and uh's at the moment as they had come up on her so fast it defeated the purpose of preparing a counter strike to the begging, or at least allowed her to adequately assume a defensive position at the very least.

"Kyo would be delighted to take you to the shrine, Seo-chan." A familiar voice announced.

All eyes turned towards the open doorway, but instead of focusing on Kira, their level dropped his knee height where dancing about in slow circular motions with his back turned to them, was Yusuke. The five-year-old held a raw sweet potato in either hand while a third was sticking out from the back of his pants where he had wedged it beneath the waist band.

"_Sweet potato, sweet potato, everyone do the sweet potato dance...Bake it in the fire leaves, bake it in the konoha...Kyo-neechan makes the best sweet potato since Jii-chan taught her how._" For some reason or other, Yusuke had found it necessary to sing in a slow dragged out manner that matched the speed of his movements. Thus, causing Kira to exhale a deep sigh of defeat while everyone else in the room just stared.

Several arguments, angry shouts, threatened lives, and awkward dances (performed by Yusuke of course) later, the rather large group of eleven made their way up the nature trail located towards the northwest end of the onsen, and hiked up to the shrine that had been kept up and running by generations past through the Uchiwa family. Begrudgingly, Kyo took the lead alongside Kira and somehow even ended up bearing the pack carrying the eleven sweet potatoes they were going to bake on the shrine grounds. A rather irritated scowl had wormed its way across Kyo's face while a little personal thunder cloud hovered over her head like some annoying spirit, metaphorically of course, since the only thing hovering on top of Kyo's head was in fact the rather content looking Yusuke. That lolling grin of his was spread far across the width of his face as he hitched a ride.

Behind them followed the rest of the group; Seo and Hunny walking in sequence with one another and further chatting about the various sweets and cute things they liked, the ever stoic Mori following closely behind them with Kyoya following alongside him. Neither dark haired boy seemed to interested in the outdoors that surrounded them to the left and to the right. However, Tamaki seemed taken by the native pine and other various trees that surrounded them along with the other bits of flora mixed in as ground cover and undergrowth. Haruhi on the other hand was not as awe struck, but was none the less taken by the unspoiled beauty of the wilderness that the Uchiwa onsen and shrine sat amongst. Bringing up the rear and taking random pictures every ten seconds; the twins shouted comments as random as their picture taking.

"Your friends seem rather taken with the outdoors." Kira mused while looking back over his shoulder. The twins especially had him chuckling.

"Yeah...taken." Kyo muttered sarcastically as she held her gaze straight ahead. An unamused look worked its way across her face.

Patting the top of her head like he would a beloved pet, Yusuke grinned down at her. "Kyo-neechan make sure you bake my sweet potato first." Her brow twitched in reply, catching Yusuke's attention, who in turn reached down and poked at it. "Wow-ah, Kyo-neechan's eyebrow is alive!"

"Yusuke, maybe you should ride on my back for a while." Kira suggested as he could see aggravation beginning to pulsate across Kyo's face as her whole body posture was completely straight and rigid. If he wasn't mistaken, Kira could see a flaming aura radiating about his cousin.

Yusuke tutted while wagging his finger at Kira. "Tch, tch, Kira-niichan. Don't be so selfish." His little face was screwed up in a rather reprimanding look as if he were his own mother.

Kira flinched at the sudden rupture in the flames in the aura surrounding Kyo and didn't even get the chance to snatch his little cousin off her in time. As if actually reacting to burning flames (all metaphorically of course as he reacted more to the angry growl Kyo let loose), Yusuke scrambled in his place atop Kyo's head before leaping over to Kira's shoulders. Disappearing completely over Kira's shoulder, Yusuke only reappeared as a slowly rising forehead and eyes that stopped and stared out at Kyo.

Growling in her throat like a very angry cat, Kyo stormed off ahead of everyone, leaving a blazing path in her wake. The rest of the group couldn't help but pause for a moment in their tracks to watch Kyo grumble to herself while stomping her way up the nature trail. With Kyo further away, Yusuke slumped up over his cousin's shoulder and exhaled a dramatic sigh while holding up his hands in a frozen shrug. "Hoo boy. She's so hot tempura."

"That's hot **tempered**!" Kira snapped back. "You need to learn when to stop Yusuke. When you're able to stand half her height, Kyo's gonna wind up and knock you silly." A frown pulled across his mouth as he shook his head.

Yusuke was currently passed out on his cousin's shoulder, a nose bubble inflating and deflating with each snoring breath. Tamaki lifted a brow as he approached Kira's side, gaze fixated on the small boy who seemed live in deep oblivious child innocence to the rest of the world. "Wow. He's asleep."

Now it was Kira's turn to shake with annoyance, a curled fist curled and slowly rose to chest level. "I swear to god." He growled through his throat as he realized just how much Yusuke took after their grandfather.

Fifteen minutes later at the lead of Kira, the group reached the open grounds of the shrine that the Uchiwa family ran and kept up as part of the tourist attraction to the area with the onsen. The front courtyard was moderately sized in proportion to the size of the shrine itself which appeared to be no bigger than the average house, flag stones covered the ground with faded and well worn faces upturned towards the sky. The weather faded _torii _stood looming before them some ten feet or so as the entrance to the shrine grounds itself. Beyond the _torii_ was the actual shrine. The whole sight had everyone, minus Kira and Yusuke, struck with awe and they voiced it as well while the twins popped up in front of everyone to snap a picture.

"The grounds are empty." Mori pointed out this fact in his usual monotone and lack of evident enthusiasm.

Haruhi glanced up at the towering fourth year who stood head over shoulders above even Tamaki and Kyoya, her brow lifted in response to his comment. "I think it's because the tourist season is over. Neh, Kira-san?"

"Eh? Oh, yeah. We won't see an influx until around New Year's." Kira looked back over his shoulder towards Haruhi's direction before actually turning about to partially face her.

"I believe Mori-senpai was referring to the fact that there's no sign of Kyo." Kyoya stated while adjusting the position in which his glasses sat upon his face. "She is in fact MIA at the moment."

Exchanging shrugs, the twins decided to best voice their own opinions on that. "Eh, she's probably somewhere around here." They announced in unison before wandering off towards the shrine, Seo and Hunny running after to catch up.

Tamaki glanced about with a hand hovering across his brow to act as a sun shield, his amethyst gaze searching the front courtyard for any sign of Kyo in response to that observation made by the others. "Hmm, Mori-senpai is right. I don't see Kyo anywhere." He frowned while speaking, and feeling a bit depressed at the fact that Kyo had gone off on her own.

Yusuke jumped down off Kira's shoulder and stood in a rather proud stance, hands on his hips, while keeping his back turned to the others. "Hehe, Kyo-neechan is probably baking _my_ sweet potato as we speak. She knows who gets treated to first, and never forgets it, woah-ho-ho!" He laughed aloud as if having made some immensely wonderful and very valid point, only to have that laugh ended abruptly as a lobed object whistled down out of the sky and smacked the kid right on top of his head. After the initial strike, the object bounced off Yusuke's head and was caught by Tamaki, leaving the five-year-old to sway this way and that as he had suddenly become rather dizzy. "I believe in flying potatoes." He muttered before tilting sideways and hitting the ground in a daze.

After catching the object that had hit Yusuke in the head, Tamaki watched for a brief two seconds as Yusuke wobbled on his feet, but had to turn his attention elsewhere as whatever he had caught was now starting to heat through the palm of his hands rather quickly. Glancing down, he strangled a cry before fumbling with a rather warm sweet potato as he tried to keep a hold of it while also trying not to burn his hands. Shouting his "ow's" and "ouches", Tamaki finally had to toss the sweet potato up high in the air and immediately began blowing on his tingling hands as quickly as possible.

The sweet potato arched high for a moment before plummeting back down towards remaining bits of the group, sending Haruhi to the side as fast as she possibly could move, while Kyoya merely stepped sideway a bit while keeping an observant eye on the potato above him. While Tamaki wagged his hands through the air to cool them, Kira and Mori also kept an eye on the potato as it now came within striking distance of the blonde. It would be Kira who caught the sweet potato with a hand pulled into the sleeve of his jacket.

"Nice catch." Mori mused while looking from the potato in Kira's hold and back over towards the shrine with a barely lifted brow. "The potato came from over the shrine."

"That's insane! Who could throw that far?" Haruhi choked at the comment as she too looked off at the shrine, and then it struck her. "Never mind."

"Oi! Dono!" Hikaru's voice lifted across the courtyard as he appeared from the backside corner of the shrine, an arm waving through the air to catch Tamaki's attention and also gesture for him and the rest of the group to come towards his direction.

Picking up the still dazed Yusuke, they met up with Hikaru and rounded the back corner to now place themselves on the backside of the shrine. A railed porch ran along the entire backside of the shrine, small things here and there decorating it with seals of good luck and paper fortunes asking for various requests to be fulfilled. More flagstone covered the ground about halfway out from the wooden porch before giving way to hard dusty earth that appeared to have been swept clean of any fallen leaves and or pine needles. At the center of the dirt cover, crouched next to a smoldering pile of the swept up flora scraps were the twins, Hunny, Seo, and of course Kyo, who at the moment was poking into the piled mess with a long thin stick she apparently had found nearby.

Both Hunny and Seo stared at the smoldering pile with large excited eyes that were glazed over with the thought of something sweet coming their way in only a few minutes. Hikaru snapped a couple of more pictures of the small makeshift oven-like thing, Kaoru popping in for one of those pictures as he and his brother were on some great big getaway that they wanted to remember later. While walking their way, both Tamaki and Yusuke paused a moment and sniffed the air. A deep chill ran across their bodies as the smell of the smoldering tender and baking potatoes assaulted their senses in all the right ways.

"Ah, it smells so wonderful!" Tamaki cooed while near floating across the ground.

"Indeed. I can't wait to eat!" Yusuke chimed in as he too followed Tamaki's lead in making his way across to Kyo's side. Here, he flopped down beside her and rubbed up against her thigh, seeing as how when he was seated and she was crouched, his head only reached to that level. "Kyo-neechan is the best cook in the world!" He chirped his comment to win over the cousin he had pretty much aggravated the whole way up to the shrine.

Kyo stared down at him from the corner of her eye, a rather unamused look on her face as apparently his flirting was getting the five-year-old Uchiwa nowhere. "I already gave you your potato." She muttered, remarking of course to the sweet potato that had dropped out of the sky like a missile.

"Neh, neh, Kyo-neechan! Are they almost done?" Seo asked, her voice just touching on a level of squeaking as the excitement of cooking outdoors had started to peak with her. It was obvious that if Seo didn't have her rather refined manners and polite appearances, she would probably be open mouth drooling as she stared into the pile of charring leaves and needles.

Kyo nodded. "Close. A few more minutes and the first three will be done." She announced through a small chuckle as she finally took note of the looks on Seo and Hunny's faces. "When they're done though, I want you to let them cool for about ten minutes so that you don't burn your tongues. Okay?"

"Hai!" They cheered in unison, the brunette and the blonde throwing their hands up into the air as they were more than ready to agree whole-heartedly to whatever Kyo said in order to receive their little treat. If Kyo told them to go conqueror the world and bring about the end of all life as it was known...she'd be sitting on a throne as Emperor of the World before the potatoes were even done...well...maybe not to that extent! But, at this point, the two were rather set on getting those potatoes!

Grinning a bit, Kyo stuck the pile a few more times, feeling around with her stick for the sweet potatoes cooking inside. "Oi, Kira." She glanced up through her long bangs, not really making the effort to tilt her head up and look at him. "Can you go get me some more leaves?"

Noting the rather obvious display of cold shouldering, Kira just nodded while nabbing Yusuke by the back of his shirt collar and dragged him off to help even as the boy moaned and groaned in protest. _Damn. I really wish she didn't do that to me...then again, it's not like I didn't ask for it. _Exhaling a defeated sigh, Kira shook away his thoughts for later.

"So, how are you cooking the sweet potatoes beneath a bunch of leaves?" Tamaki crouched down next to what looked like a small rubbish heap that Kyo hovered over with a stick in hand. He had a rather curious look on his face that seemed like it should have been on the face of a child than a grown teenager,causing Kyo to giggle quietly to herself in response as he eyed it now as well.

"You start a small fire with dried out tender and then add on heavier bits to cover the potato. It works like an oven more than a roasting pit. You cook with embers, not flames." Kyo explained as she stuck the stick into the pile one more time and struck a very soft but firm object. "Ah! I found one that's ready." She pushed a bit harder into the potato hidden away beneath the leaves, and then pulled back to retrieve the fleshy object wrapped up in its own thick skin. "All done." Her announcement was cut short as Seo and Hunny erupted into cheers and clapping as they begged to have the first potato. "Hold on a minute. Seo-chan, let Hunny-senpai have the first one since he's a guest."

A bit bummed out, but nonetheless allowing the polite thing to do happen, Seo watched almost forlornly as Hunny took the sweet potato skewered on a stick for himself. Grabbing another stick she had ready near her foot, Kyo stuck it into the pile as well, tagging another one of the sweet potatoes and pulling it out. This one, she paused a moment in deciding who got it. Seeing this, Seo's face faulted as she waved off towards Tamaki and begrudgingly watched as the second potato went out of her reach. _This had better amount to some good karma coming my way! _Skewering the third potato she had tucked away, Kyo gave her cousin a grin as she handed it over to her. With big, watery, puppy-dog eyes, Seo took the potato and looked like a very pleased little kitten who had just received cat-nip for the first time.

For some reason, Kyo couldn't help but stare with a somewhat dumbfounded look on her face as Seo, Hunny, and Tamaki inhaled the scent of the potatoes as if they were wine tasters taking in the bouquet. There's was just something so...strange about the little trio just sitting there with elevated looks of their own as they took in the whole potato for all it was.

"Can you smell it, Hunny-senpai? The sweet and yet musty scent of the potato is unlike anything I've had the pleasure of savoring. It's better than commoner's coffee freshly mixed!" Tamaki exhaled with a kittenish smile on his face.

"Hai, hai, Tama-chan! I can smell it very much! It's absolutely wonderful. Neh, Seo-chan?" Hunny looked over at the younger Uchiwa, his eyes closed to the world as he wished to further focus on the smell of his little treat.

Seo, who also had her own eyes closed to the world, looked to Hunny and nodded. "It's more than wonderful Hunny-senpai! But words fail me at the moment!"

"Oh my god." Kyo groaned while holding her forehead in her hand.

"Hey, hey, Paper fan-senpai! Where's ours?" Hikaru popped up beside Kyo, Kaoru occupying her other side so that way their tag-team of nagging the second year would be much more effective this way.

Irritation got the better of Kyo, yet again, and thus Hikaru was answered with a feral glare and hiss. "WAIT YOUR DAMN TURN!"

"DON'T YELL AT ME, IT WAS LEGITAMATE QUESTION!" Hikaru snapped back, his own glare now matching hers. Electricity cracked in along their line of vision.

"FINE!" Kyo hissed while snatching up a potato, her gaze locked in a staring contest with Hikaru, and tossed it into the leaf pile. The two started to growl at one another, but in one of the strangest turn of events ever in the history of Kyo vs. Hikaru, the two relaxed in a split second and stared down at the makeshift outdoor oven with placid looks. "Not too soft, yeah?"

Hikaru nodded vigorously. "Yeah."

"Is it just me, or are those two practically best friends now?" Kyoya muttered as he watched with a bit of interest at the oddly abrupt end to a Kyo and Hikaru argument/screaming match. His question was met with an agreeing nod from Mori who watched Hunny peel back the dark purple skin of his sweet potato, as a doting cousin would to ensure the diminutive blonde didn't burn himself. A second nod from Haruhi was all he needed at the point. "I thought so."

Kaoru stared slack-jawed at his brother and Kyo, dumbfounded and shocked beyond belief at quickly their supposed argument had ended. _I don't know if I should be scared or thankful at this point anymore. _Exhaling a heavy sigh, Kaoru found that his mouth was pulling into a bit of a smile as he still shook his head. _And I thought me and Hikaru were mirror copies of one another. Kyo-senpai; she's definitely a keeper._ Glancing across at Hikaru, who was currently being instructed as to how he should watch his potato and make sure it wouldn't overcook, Kaoru noted the rather excited look on his brother's face as he seemed to be enjoying himself. _I don't ever want her to leave._

"Oi! Kyo-senpai, what about mine!" Kaoru suddenly whined while leaning sideways into her, arms wrapping about her neck and tugging her his way for attention. "Don't leave me out!"

"I'm not! And stop pulling on me, I'll fall over!" Kyo almost snapped out at him, but managed to only sound just below reprimanding as she tried to pull herself back into a straighter crouched position. Grabbing a second potato from the pack she had carried since leaving the onsen, Kyo carefully shoved it amongst the middle of the smoldering leaves. "There, okay?" She turned her head slightly to look at Kaoru without putting her face too close to his as the second Hitachiin decided he was much more comfortable with his chin resting on her shoulder.

A wicked little grin cracked out across his lips. "Of course!" He replied. A hint of accomplishment coming out with his words. "Anything you do for me, I greatly appreciate."

"Yeah I bet." Kyo muttered while looking back to the leaf pile and held up a stick for Kaoru as well.

For a moment he stared at the stick and blinked as if he didn't quite understand what she was doing, but even if that was the case, he took the stick anyways and thus had to let go of Kyo at the same time. After the basic instructions were given to him, Kaoru put all his concentration on the sweet potato hidden away amongst the leaves that would be his to eat once it was cooked all the way. With the twins watching their own potatoes for the moment, Kyo stood to her feet and stretched her arms high up over her head and yawned all at the same time.

Tamaki, Seo, and Hunny were busy now as their own sweets had cooled and were munching upon the tender meat inside, giving little squeals of admonishment to the taste. Yusuke came running back with a small armful of dried pine needles and leaves in his arms, and upon seeing the three of them eating away at their sweet potatoes, he gave a small cry before rushing over and dumping his little load off on the ring of the pile. Immediately he began pestering Seo for a bite, begging for her to just let him taste a little bit of the potato, and was repeatedly denied his request.

"Ah! Don't be selfish Seo-neechan!" Yusuke cried while stomping his foot.

"This is my potato Yusuke, I don't have to share with you." Seo replied between bites, and then stuck her tongue out at him to add insult to injury.

As Yusuke started to pout and huff, Kira dropped the potato that had been tossed over the shrine down into Yusuke's raised hands. The potato was still quite warm, in fact it was at a perfect temperature to be eaten at, and the five-year-old sat down rather quickly between his cousin and Tamaki. He peeled back the skin of his potato faster than any peeling knife ever would and took a rather massive bite from it. A shiver ran up his spine and he mumbled something through a mouth full of food.

Shaking his head, Kira set his own little bundle of tender down next to where Yusuke had unceremoniously tossed his. "This should be enough to get the other potatoes done." Kira looked up at Kyo, and lifted a brow as she was staring off into space with eyes diverted up off towards the trees that formed a cluster ring about the back grounds of the shrine. "Um... uh... Kyo... ?" _Ah, crap. I was wondering when that was going to happen. _"Oi, Kyo." Kira called out to his cousin, knowing that even though she seemed to have spaced out, she was still aware to what was going on around her, as was evident by the fact that she slowly looked down to meet Kira's gaze with a bit of a drowsy and worn out look in her heavy lidded eyes.

"Wow-ah! Kyo-neechan looks sleepy!" Yusuke blurted out while hoping from one foot to the other and pointed. A grin had worked its way across his face that Kira and even Haruhi could see from behind him.

Kyoya quirked a brow at this but still remained ever focused on the baking potatoes beneath the pile of leaves as he had crouched down off to the left of the twins after having found curiosity dragging him into the whole mystic of the rather old tradition of cooking a root. "She's not sleepy." He commented briefly, tone near dry as he spoke. "It's the incoming winter weather."

All eyes, aside from Seo and Hunny, turned up to Kyo who in turn was yet again spaced out with her heavy gaze almost blank. It was quiet for a moment, uncomfortably quiet. But that quiet shattered as Kyo's whole body flinched beneath a sneeze that seemed to come out of nowhere with no beforehand warning, causing everyone to jerk in response, including Seo and Hunny this time as well. Still, Kyo had yet to really change in her new demeanor as she continued to stare off into space.

"Kyoya-san is right." Kira sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. "Kyo was born in June, during the Summer Solstice. Every winter, starting around the onset of it, Kyo starts to loose a lot of her usual energy and becomes a bit more...docile Her reaction time to things is slower than normal, and when she does get riled up and explodes, her energy is sapped even faster and she does that." Kira motioned towards the blank Kyo, who at the moment had wandered off a few steps from her original place with the twins and was staring up at the sky still.

"It's like it's a whole other person." Tamaki murmured over the top of his sweet potato. "What does her being born during the Summer Solstice have to do with it?"

"It means she much more sensitive to the change in weather. Kind of like someone who has allergies." Haruhi pointed out as she caught on to what Kira had said. "Although, I've never heard of someone being so sensitive to the change in weather like _**that**_." She couldn't help but now sweat at the sight of Kyo holding on to a pine tree with arms wrapped about it and slumped in a position where it seemed as though her feet had completely given out on her. _In fact, she kind of looks like someone who just ran a marathon._

Indeed Haruhi's assumption would be correct as Kyo had paled considerably and held a very rundown look on her face. "I. Hate. Winter." She grumbled while tightening her grasp about the tree as best as she could in her rather exhausted condition.

"Rangiku-bachan said that Kyo's jinxed actually." Kira stated, a bit offhandedly at that. "In fact she made it a rather valid point to say this every winter since Kyo was adopted. Something about how every once in a while a summer-baby is tested by the Yuki-Ona or other. Our godmother is a bit strange."

"SHUT THE HELL UP KIRA!" Kyo snapped, her head cutting back over her shoulder to glare, but the energy she had exerted had been a bit too much and the dark haired teen felt lightheaded, and thus slid down the tree trunk to the point in which she was laying across the ground now as the world seemed to spin about her.

"Ah! Kyon-chan!" Hunny shot up from his seat by the leaf pile and scrambled over to her, followed by an equally fast Tamaki and Haruhi.

"Kyo, are you okay? Speak to me!" Tamaki wailed while pulling her up off the ground upon reaching her. Holding her close like some injured animal he had found in the forest (yes, please note the irony and or corny value here), Tamaki looked over to Haruhi with a frantic look. "Haruhi she's not answering me!"

Yusuke popped up across Tamaki's shoulder and nodded at the dazed state his older cousin was in and then disappeared for a few seconds to reappear with a small hand held squirt gun he gotten from god only knows where at this point. Aiming it as Kyo's face, he pulled back on the plastic trigger and shot a jet of rather chill water at her. The shock of water hitting her face caused Kyo to snap too and the first gasping breath she took allowed water to flood both mouth and nose. Choking on the water, Kyo gargled and thrashed before finally wriggling free and shooting up against the tree to brace herself. Her bangs and other longer layers of her hair clung to her face as if they were stickers and gave her a rather comical look. Gasping for air while trying to cough out the water at the same time, Kyo's blue eyes were wide and tried to glare death at her small cousin who was twirling the squirt gun about his index finger.

As her mouth dropped open to shout, Tamaki stood up rather quickly and waved his hands about like a mad man to ward off another outburst. "Ah! Kyo don't yell again or you'll faint!"

On the other side of the yard, Hikaru and Kaoru were cracking up, an arm slung over one another's shoulder to keep their balance in crouched positions. "Let her do it again Dono!" Hikaru found a way to somehow call out to Tamaki through his fit of laughter, but ultimately tumbled backwards as he couldn't keep still and dragged Kaoru down with him.

From her place against the tree, Kyo pursed her lips while her cheeks puffed out in an attempt to keep from shouting at the redhead who found complete and utter delight in teasing her constantly. However, even that seemed to be too much as Kyo once again hugged her pine tree in defeat to her inability to maintain her well known stamina during winter months. "I really, really hate winter."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hikaru and Kaoru call Tamaki _dono_, which translates to "lord" or "m'lord".

* * *

**SPECIAL BULLETIN!!**

The Uchiwa Family Roster (currently gathered at the family onsen):

Uchiwa Ichigo – Kyo's father

Uchiwa Umi – Kyo's mother

Uchiwa Kyo – Kira and Yusuke's cousin (16)

Uchiwa Hiroshi – Kyo's grandfather

Uchiwa Fuu – Kyo's grandmother

Uchiwa Kira – Kyo's cousin (22)

Uchiwa Yusuke – Kyo's cousin (5, youngest cousin)

Uchiwa Michiru – Kira's mother

Uchiwa Hatori – Kira's father

Uchiwa Misae – Yusuke's mother

Uchiwa Kouji – Yusuke's father

Uchiwa Seo – Yusuke's older sister (12)

Uchiwa Akitsuki – Yusuke's older brother (19)

Uchiwa Tomoe – Kira's younger brother (14)

Uchiwa Yamato – Kira's younger brother (10)

Uchiwa Sho – Kira's older brother (27, eldest cousin)


	26. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 5

**Author's Note: **This chapter will probably one the longer ones as I would like to wrap up the trip to the onsen here shortly in this chapter and one more following it. Hopefully you all won't mind the length, and I only hope you find entertainment in the introduction of Kyo's dad. I felt inspired to write the intro of Uchiwa Ichigo after watching the first episode of _Bleach_ again earlier this week. But like I said, this chapter will be rather long.

**Warnings: **This chapter will include the use of foul language. Be assured I dare not drop the f-bomb here as the rules of PG-13 clearly state that you are only allowed to use this taboo four-letter word only once! (Or so I gathered from John Travolta in BE COOL)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am quite sure I haven't used the f-bomb yet. I'll save it for a much more pressing time that would allow its use.

Other than that, ENJOY!

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Six**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Five**_

For more than two hours the Host Club and members of the Uchiwa family sat on the back porch of the shrine and munched upon their sweet potatoes that Kyo somehow managed to finish cooking. They talked amongst one another, separating in their grouped off conversations and then coming back into a full group conversation like the ebb and flow of a tide. It took the first falling flakes of snow drifting down out the grey sky to interrupt them and pull focus elsewhere. Uchiwa Seo and Yusuke were the first ones up off the porch, racing into the middle of the yard where they held out their hands in an attempt to catch the falling snowflakes.

"Oh wow, it's snowing." Haruhi grinned while staring up at the sky to watched the snow fall in a slow swirling dance.

Hunny giggled as he jumped down off the porch and joined the two younger Uchiwa in the yard for a game of chase to see who could catch the most snow in their hands before it melted. As the snow continued to fall, it dusted the grounds of the shrine and was soon giving a rather tranquil and unique to it, but also dropped the temperature level in the air as well. Blowing out a small puff of air, Kaoru watched it form into a small cloud and disappear within seconds. He grinned and blew another puff of air as he found a small bit of entertainment in this, and soon both his brother and Tamaki were blowing small clouds out into the cold air right along with him.

"A little early for snowfall." Kyoya mused. "Does this usually happen up here?" He glanced towards Kyo first, but found that she was distracted with her own little task of leaning as far out from her seat on the porch to catch snowflakes on the tip of her tongue, and thus immediately looked to Kira.

Kira nodded. "Yeah it does. It's usually around the end of November and the beginning of December that the first snow starts to fall. You get a handful of tourist here and there who want to take pictures of the shrine covered in snow, but other than that it still stays relatively quiet for most of the winter." He replied.

"What about the onsen? Don't you guys get pretty busy during winter?" Haruhi asked as the thought of the second attraction run by the Uchiwa family came to mind as it had been momentarily forgotten amidst the time spent at the shrine thus far.

"It picks up, about...huh, right now." Kyo sat back from her little game of catch and held a rather musing look on her face that turned to complete and utter depression as she reminded herself of this little fact. Drawn to exchange stricken looks with Kira, Kyo curled herself up into a ball on the porch and made it a point to keep back turned to everyone else. "I'll spend the next three days here if anyone wants me." She muttered.

Kyo's self-imposed depression had most of her friends laughing in a nervous manner in response, but Kira was the only one who shook his head as he did have a somewhat sympathetic agreement to what Kyo had decided to announce. If they weren't careful, more than likely as they walked back down to the onsen the sounds of arriving visitors and the screech of three mothers and one grandmother as they sought out four missing children (aka cheap labor) they needed help from was more than likely going to send everyone in that group into flight mode. Kira shuddered at the thought. _Medusa has nothing on them when they're angry._

"Kira-niichan! Kyo-neechan!" Seo came running up towards her two older cousins, arms wrapped about her upper body. Stopping at the foot of the porch, her teeth chattered as she shivered beneath the rapidly cooling temperature. "I'm getting really cold out here."

Kira lifted a brow as he watched Seo shiver and then glanced up at the sky. The snow was beginning to come down a bit more now and at a faster rate. In fact, _Holy hell! _Kira stared out at an entirely covered back yard of the shrine. "Uh, yeah. I think we should go ahead and head on back to the onsen before the snow gets any heavier." He stood up as he spoke, conveying the gesture for everyone else to do so as well.

Yusuke came running up and jumped at the last step. Tucking and rolling through the air, he landed in Kira's arms as apparently this was just normal routine for them. Standing up to stretch, Tamaki glanced over at the still curled up Kyo who looked as though she didn't hear what Kira said, or refused to listen. Either way, she wasn't moving and this had Tamaki lifting a curious brow. Reaching down, he set a tensive hand on her shoulder. "Uh, Kyo...?"

She was silent.

"Stop moping and get up already." Kira called out as he was already leading the others towards the front of the shrine. That got a reaction out of her indefinitely.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"Come on Kyo, the snow fall is going to ensure we don't make it back down if we wait too long." Kyoya called out over his shoulder as he was already following Kira, Yusuke, and Seo back towards the front of the shrine.

Kyo sat up and made a rather unpleasant face at Kyoya as she was both irritated and somewhat disgusted to the fact that he was agreeing with Kira at all. "This isn't school Kyoya, you can't boss me around here!" She snapped, already feeling slightly dizzy from her previous outburst.

Kyoya paused a moment and lifted a rather amused brow in response to her remark. The look on his face caused the twins to swallow hard as they had seen it before, and normally it came prior to Mori enforcing what Kyoya had decided upon...like right now as Kyo's smaller frame was easily scooped up and slung over Mori's shoulder. For a brief two seconds a rather stunned look of disbelief held its place on Kyo, before of course she started wriggle and squirm to free herself from a forced departure she didn't want to participate in. Shouting, cursing, and every other attempt was made on Kyo's part to get herself out of Mori's hold, however, as they had already rounded the corner and were now passing out beneath the _torii_, Mori stopped, pulled Kyo off his shoulder and held her out before him as if she were some children's toy. That shut her up rather quickly.

"Stop squirming. It tickles." Mori's deadpan look and flat tone held everyone still, including Kyo who stared at him with wide eyes but dared to open her mouth to say something, only to have Mori shake his head in response to the unspoken. "No, you'll just try to run away." He stated, and set her back across his shoulder to ensure she was unable to try an escape attempt of any kind.

_**Twenty minutes later...**_

"Wow."

The entire group of eleven stood off to the side of the main courtyard leading up to the onsen. A main courtyard bursting at the seams with tourists and daily visitors that prowled about in every which direction. The flash of camera bulbs, the mingled conversations, and the constant shuffle of feet drowned any and every other sound.

"Is it too late to take Kyo-senpai's lead, and stay at the shrine?" Hikaru muttered while looking over at the dark haired girl still slung over Mori's shoulder. After her initial first couple of minutes of struggling to escape and hide, Kyo lost all energy versus actually giving up as her rather odd little season stipulation tossed her an unfair advantage. About halfway down the trail, Kyo had finally shaken herself back to "normal" and since then had been propping her head up via chin hand that rested an elbow against Mori's back. Kyo gave a huff while turning her face away from Hikaru's view as she gave him the cold shoulder. "Just how the hell was I supposed to help you out?! Mori-senpai has you on his shoulder, I wouldn't have been able to reach you!!"

Kyo turned on the rowdier Hitachiin, eyes narrowed and fangs barred. "That didn't mean you couldn't put in any effort to at least try!" She snapped back, a finger pointing in complete and utter accusation at the redhead. "You're on your own pal!" Her arms crossed stubbornly while she stared ahead back up the trail to make a point that she was now ignoring him.

Hikaru gritted his teeth while shooting her a very unfriendly look. _If it's the weather that's affecting her mood, fine. But if it's just her being a bi..._

"KYO-CHAN! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU AND YOUR COUSINS HIDING?!"

It was as if the entire roof of the onsen had exploded right up off the building itself. Not only had the group of eleven scattered to the four winds, but everyone in the courtyard had gone stiff with an extreme amount of pure fear from such a giant outburst.

Before they knew what had hit them, the whole Host Club and the Uchiwa cousins had been rounded up by three mothers and one grandmother, who were just a hair short of actually tying them all up in order to keep them inside the onsen. Gathered, or rather trapped, inside a side room that was accessed only by the staff of the onsen and the family members themselves, they were loomed over by stern looks that promised in the event that their cooperation failed...it would be utterly unfortunate.

"Kyo, your family is terrifying." Haruhi muttered over towards her friend as the two sat side by side on their knees.

Kyo's face was currently holding a very sour look for the time being. "Try living with them from birth till now. Then you can come back and tell me that they're terrifying." She grumbled beneath her breath.

At the forefront of the group, Kyo's aunt Misae stood before them with a rather sweet smile on her face and hands clapping together briefly to gain their attention. "Okay everyone, please listen. As you already saw, we have experienced a rather sudden and rather large random ambush by visitors to the onsen. All the usual staff have arrived on such short notice, but I would appreciate it if all of you were ready to offer a helping hand when needed. Neh?" Misae tilted her head to the side as a smile bristled over her lips. When no one answered right away, aside from Yusuke, her smile vanished in seconds and a glare replaced it. Ten voices answered simultaneously with a 'yes'. "Wonderful!"

With that said, they were dismissed from the room and allowed to go do whatever it was they wanted until needed. Once the adults had ducked out of the room and the door closed with a click, Kyo shot up from her seat on the floor and began looking around for an escape route.

"You try that every year and it never works." Kira sighed while reclining back on his arms.

"That doesn't mean I should give up!" Kyo snapped. "You never try!" She pointed angrily at her older cousin with a venomous glare radiating into his direction at the same time.

"Every time you've tried to escape, you were caught. I'd say that amounts to you needing to give up." Kira shot back, his own face pulling into a default glare.

Muttering something under breath, Kyo found the window to her right and made to spring for it, only to have a very fast moving object race into the room and lock her down in some sort wrestling inspired body-lock. "And where do you think you're going?!" An older man looking to be somewhere in his early mid to late forties, sporting a head of greying black hair and dark grey eyes, had appeared so quickly and in such an odd manner that everyone in the room was stunned stupid for the moment. "Trying to escape again, eh?!"

"G-Get off me!" Kyo choked out while trying to twist her way out of the hold she had been so unceremoniously been tackled under. As the man refused to budge, Kyo grit her teeth as she managed to push herself up into a partially risen state and slammed the back of her head into his lower lip. This sent a shock wave through the guy who immediately released her as he reeled backwards, coughing and sputtering. In what looked like a flashed blur of just color, Kyo was up on her feet and facing the man who had pinned her to the ground in an attempt to fraught her chance of escape. "What the hell is wrong with you?! I'm your daughter for crying out loud!"

Tamaki's face drew a blank as it cocked to the side, or rather fell to the side, as he couldn't help but become incredibly confused by this whole thing now. "Daughter...?"

"I believe we've just been introduced to Uchiwa Ichigo. Kyo's father." Kyoya observed while recovering from his apparent state of blank shock faster than the others had. However, he continued to observe with a very much disturbed look on his face since it was a rather odd sight to watch.

"EEEHHHH??!!" This was unanimous by the way, and only the members of the Host Club had done so. (Back to the action!)

"Ho-ho! My little girl has finally learned a thing or two from her old man! 'Bout time!" Uchiwa Ichigo had recovered from the backwards head-butt rather quickly as he now stood in an extravegant stance, arms folded smugly across his chest. A proud grin was plastered across his face.

Kyo shoved her arms across her chest as well, only she turned away from her rather painfully annoying father. "You had better be talking about Jii-chan if you're saying that, because I didn't learn shit from you!"

Ichigo faulted in his stance as if someone had hit him on the back of the head, but recovered quickly anyways. "I am your father! How dare you use such foul language!" He shouted while racing forward towards Kyo with a right punch pulled back and ready for launch, though it would never be used. Kyo's right foot caught his face in a surprisingly quick halfway performed roundhouse kick, which sent him spinning through the air backwards and hit the wall upside down. Sliding down the wall face, Ichigo's left foot twitched.

Both Hunny and Mori watched with drawn blanks. They had seen Kyo dish out rather impressive moves at school when those guys had come looking for a fight, and even when she fought Kira, but this...was a different level that had to be seriously separated from those other previous displays. That and her choice of words were anything but lady-like. For some reason, the two cousins decided quietly between themselves through some sort of telepathic means that they would never ever get Kyo mad at them. She didn't make arguments all to pleasant.

"Hoo boy." Kyo muttered as her whole body started to sway in response to a sudden depletion of all basic energy to even walk. Setting a hand to her forehead, Kyo moved to possibly sit down or even try and leave for her room, but her ever dotting father wouldn't have it so easily, as was apparent from the fact that Kyo slammed face first into the ground and set into another hold. "What the hell man?!"

"You let your guard down! Think you can get rid of your old man that easily?! EH?! THINK AGAIN!" Ichigo's statement wouldn't hold value for more than two seconds before Kyo found an untapped reserve of energy to bolt up out of the his hold and fling him off her yet again.

No witty remarks or snappy come backs were exchanged as both father and daughter raced for one another, leaped into the air and began exchanging random punches rather quickly. Jumping again after touching ground, the two exchanged another round of flurried blows before setting foot on the floor for a second time and pulled back a long right punch each. Releasing at the same time, both fists connected with the opposite target's cheek in a rather unpleasant thud that froze all movement in the room. Standing there with arms extended out, a fist in their faces, eyes closed to the world in order to block out the pain; Ichigo gave first as Kyo's hit had been much more substantial. Slipping off down to the tatami covered floor, Ichigo was left to sulk in slumped over defeat.

"That'll teach you to jump your own daughter, dumbass!" Kyo hissed while rubbing at her own cheek rather vigorously as a rather nifty looking red blotch was starting to show.

Looking up at his daughter, Ichigo pointed at her as dramatically as one can from being near face down on the floor. "If you try to escape this onsen and dodge your duties as a hostess and member of this family, I'll take your cellphone away! Then you'll cry and beg for me to give it back because you can't live without it! And I'll say '_Haha, serves you right for being so cruel to your papa._' Neh, so what do you think of that?!"

"Feh, fine by me. It's not like I'm attached to it." Kyo grumbled while turning her back to him.

Both Hikaru and Kaoru couldn't help but scowl in response to the statement Kyo's father had made. "We've only known her for half a year, and even we know she doesn't care about that stupid thing. You are her father, aren't you?" They announced their disapproval at a poorly made threat towards their _toy_. Especially since they were just so much better at blackmailing her anyways, and somehow found what he had said as almost offensive.

Uchiwa Ichigo's bottom lip quivered before he burst into rather undignified pouting tears. "Ahh! I don't even know what affects my own daughter anymore?! What kind of parent have I become?!"

"That's a damn good question if you ask me!" Kyo growled, her brow twitching as she agreed with what the twins had pointed out so expertly. Even she agreed to the fact that they did a better job of blackmailing and threatening her, than her own father did. "It's just pathetic."

Yusuke slid up beside Kyo, a hand holding his chin while he nodded solemnly. "Yes indeed. Very sad. Ichigo-ojichan doesn't know how his own kid works. Tch, the shame." A loud pop cracked through the room as Kyo planted her fist on the crown of Yusuke's head. A single swelling tear dangled from the boy's left eye in response to the rather sharp pain inflicted upon him. "Kyo-neechan is mean." His voice warbled.

"Ah! Yusuke-kun!" Ichigo swooped in and scooped up his youngest nephew, holding him gently as if he were an injured animal. "You poor boy! I know exactly how you feel! She's become such a cruel woman lately!" He babbled, tears running down his face in an overly dramatic manner that was mirrored by Yusuke, who also babbled incoherently.

Adjusting her sweater, Kyo exhaled a heavy sigh as she looked towards her still dumbstruck friends and couldn't help but blink a few times at the rather lifeless look they all possessed. "Hey, guys,"

"GOTCHA!" Ichigo tossed Yusuke off to Kira's position as he tried one more time to sweep in at Kyo, but even as he had sprang first with arms outstretched and ready to toss her again, the entire front of his face collided with the bottom of Kyo's sock covered foot. "Dear mother in heaven, our daughter has become so violent. What should I do?" He quivered while finally falling backwards to the ground, where he twitched in short jerks, the heavy imprint of Kyo's foot a dark splotch that ran up his face like a tire tread.

"Ah!? Stop saying those ridiculous things! Mom's still alive! And I'm sure she'll be pissed as all hell when she hears you lamenting like that!" Kyo shouted down at her father before turning on her heel and stomping off towards the door. Throwing the sliding door open so that it cracked like thunder upon entering the pocket, Kyo only managed to set one foot out the door when her body, weakened from her sensitivity to the weather and having spent all energy fighting off her father, gave out and she sunk to the floor in a slow slithering manner.

"Kyo!" Tamaki popped up from his seated place on the floor, recovering faster than everyone else as was customary in these sort of situations, and took only two giant leaps before he was lifting his dizzy eyed and incoherent friend up off the floor the best he could seeing as how they were stuck right inside the door way. "Aiya, you really shouldn't over do things like that!"

* * *

By mid-afternoon the onsen had finally settled down as customers were checked in, booked for private hot spring baths, and escorted to their rooms. The sudden appearance of so many people at once, both paying customers and visiting family members (and unexpected friends), new arrangements had to be made to accommodate for everyone to fit comfortably...more or less on the latter part of those at the onsen. Most of Kyo's family were divided into two rooms at the far back end of the onsen's Inn, while Kyo and Haruhi got a room to themselves a few doors down with a room to the six boys of the Host Club on the opposite of the hall directly across from them. A bit cozy, as the mothers put it, cramped and claustrophobic would have been a better description from others if it had not been for the threat of possibly being physically harmed preventing that little notion.

Shutting the door to their room, Haruhi sighed quietly as she turned about to face the new room she was now sharing with Kyo, only to find that the older girl was desperately trying to pry open the only window in the room. She couldn't help but feel a bit worried for her friend's frantic attempts to escape. "Why do I get the feeling that I should be possibly going along with this?" Haruhi muttered to herself before exhaling loudly as she walked over to where Kyo had now clambered up on the wall to brace both feet and pull on the wooden bars criss-crossing over the window itself. "Um, Kyo...?"

"Dammit!" Kyo dropped to the floor and stared up at the window bars accusingly. "I could fit out the bars if I didn't have these damn arms!" She shouted before proceeding an attempt at chewing her arms off.

Haruhi went rigid for a moment before racing across the rest of the room and swatted her friend upside the back of her head rather quickly. "Stop that!" _She would really go through with it too! _

Kyo hung her head and sulked in her cross-legged seat upon the tatami matted floor of their room. "It's all over." She moaned quietly before tipping over sideways, still cross-legged as well. Her depressed mood caused Haruhi to slump in her own stance, sweat building along her right temple line.

"It can't be that bad. Besides, your aunt said we would only be helping out when they were in need of extra hands." Haruhi pointed out while rubbing the back of her neck. "It'll probably no worse than entertaining during Host Club hours."

**That**, caused Kyo to roll halfway to face Haruhi on the floor and fixate a very unpleasant stare on her. "Why did you have to go and say that?" Not more than a second after uttering this, the door slid open rather quickly...and Kyo was ready to kill herself.

"Yosh! Kyo, Haruhi! It is the bloom of winter, and with fresh snow in the air it is up to the handsome men of the Ouran Host Club to cater to the lonely,"

"Not interested." Kyo was up on her feet facing the open door, arms crossed up in front of her to form an X.

Tamaki stared with a rather taken back look on his face and blinked a few times before he pulled a grin and attempted to being the process of swaying Kyo's jumped to response into the direction of agreement. "Now, now, Kyo-chan. We have a duty to perform as _hosts_." He tutted while wagging a finger at her.

"Hell no." Kyo shot him down, arms still up in their X crossed position. "We're not at school, therefore I feel no obligation to go along with this! That and, HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?! MY WHOLE FAMILY IS AT THIS ONSEN!!" She bellowed after of course stepping across the room in one long stride in order to yell down at the blonde king of the Host Club. The vein in her left temple pulsed as she snarled.

"Oh, right." Tamaki cowered beneath Kyo's rather unhappy demeanor. "Yeah but, we can still do things around here in order to provide excellent service to those with newfound time on their hands!" He pointed out in a manner that showed a great amount of excitement to work alongside the onsen staff. "Neh, Haruhi?" Tamaki looked to the other girl in the room, hoping she would agree, but found that Haruhi was staring at him with an even glare that almost seemed to dare him to just try and ask that question again. "Oh come on guys!"

"No!" Both girls shouted in unison as they pushed Tamaki backwards out the door and then slammed it shut. Unfortunately, locking a sliding rice paper door was completely out the question, seeing as how there weren't even any handles or knobs to these doors in the first place. It took both Kyo and Haruhi to keep the door from opening again as Tamaki started to throw one of his more famous "drama-queen" scenes in the hall.

Kyo shot Harhui a rather brow twitching stare. "Can we please try and escape now?" Her tone of voice was both frustrated and sarcastic at the same time.

"You're not chewing your arms off!" Haruhi shot back as she was growing increasingly frustrated as well now.

"Is that a _yes_ or a _no_?!" Kyo demanded, her shoulder now having to butt up against the inside of the door jam to keep the door under their control. However, everything went suddenly still on the other side of the door, which brought curious looks from both girls, and after a moment's contemplation, Kyo slowly slid the door open to see what had happened. The brief and trifle thought having beaten Tamaki down with the passive aggressive blockade to room access was short lived, as the front of Kyo's sweater was snatched and used to yank the teen straight out of her room and into the hallway.

Her all but graceful face plant into the opposite wall from her room echoed down the hall with a rather dull _**thump**_, and left Haruhi stricken pale with utter and total fear.

Dusting her hands off as she turned her chin up indigently, Uchiwa Umi smirked while chuckling behind her closed lips. "Grandmother requests your help, Kyo-chan." She stated nonchalantly while heading off down the hall towards the main section of the onsen's Inn.

The door to the boy's room slid open, and the other six faces peered out after the leaving mother who seemed much more capable of handling Kyo than her father was. Haruhi slowly pulled her gaze down to the unmoving Kyo who actually twitched twice after sliding down the wall and did nothing to move herself out a rather defeated position on the floor. On the right side of the doorway, Tamaki had all but lost the color to his very being as he stared off into space; dumbstruck, struck stupid, and literally shell-shocked from the whole event.

"So that's where Kyo gets it from." Kyoya mused as an after though into a silent hallway. Only the mere weak moan from Kyo came back as a reply of any kind.


	27. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 6

_**Chapter Twenty-Seven**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Six**_

"Mori-senpai, Kira-san. You're needed in the front to shovel the snow that fell. Hunny-senpai, Seo-kun. You'll be taking refreshment trays out to the hot spring baths. Haruhi-kun, Hikaru-kun. You two will be setting new towels out in the changing rooms when they're not in use. Kyo-san, Kaoru-kun. The two of you will be bringing in the kindling logs for the heating fires on the west end of the onsen. Tamaki, Yusuke-kun. Stay out of the way."

Yusuke made a face in response to the rather "unfair" task given to him and the tall blonde boy who was friends with his cousin Kyo. Puffing his cheeks out, he grunted. "I'm going to help Kira-niichan shovel snow!"

"You know, I'd be more than happy to take Yusuke's task." Kyo pointed out, and received a knock to the back of her head for it in return.

Kyo's mother; Uchiwa Umi, stood behind her daughter with her fist still curled and held at chest height. Her left brow was pulled up in a high arch while the vein on her temple was rather apparent. "You're going to do what was assigned to you." She stated evenly, gaze zeroed in on the back of her daughter's head where a small knot was now forming. As was the trade mark of most of the Uchiwa women, Umi looked over at the tall dark haired and speckled Ohtori Kyoya, and gave him a rather friendly smile. "Kyoya-san, thank you so much for going through the trouble of helping out with the smaller tasks."

Kyoya nodded with a bit of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he adjusted the manner in which his glasses were perched upon his nose. "It's no trouble at all ma'am. I do this sort of thing all the time at school." He replied while giving her one of his ever so charming smiles at the end, and thus won her favor on the spot.

"Damn kiss up." Kyo muttered under her breath while sulking in her seat, shoulders hunched forward.

"Well, you kids have fun!" Umi grinned while waving her goodbyes to them as she departed to do her part alongside her mother-in-law and the rest of the family. However, before she completely left the room, she shot the back of Kyo's head a final warning glare. "No escape attempts this year." She growled out the command, causing Kyo to sit up straighter than she had been and complete freeze. Smirking to herself, Umi headed out the door. _That's my girl._

Haruhi cast a wry glance over towards Kyo, an unsure look pulling at her lips. "Kyo, your mother, she's..."

"A freak'n psychopath?" Kyo stared straight out ahead while still looking incredibly disturbed by her mother's warning.

"A-ha...not exactly what I was thinking." Haruhi nervously chuckled as she could only imagine what would happen if Kyo's mother was hovering outside the door and heard the rather _lovely_ description of her that Kyo had decided to toss out.

While Tamaki and Yusuke protested to the assignment of "staying out of the way", as Kyoya had put it, the rest of the group separated and went off to their tasks that had been handed down to them...begrudgingly if that, case in point being Kyo of course.

Trudging her way down the hall with Kaoru following along at her side, Kyo kept up her rather sulking attitude with shoulders slumped forward and head hanging low. Kaoru watched her from the corner of his eye with a lifted brow of curiosity, as he wasn't entirely sure if her sulking was from the whole being tossed around by her mom and ordered around by Kyoya, or from her sensitivity to the winter cold. Either way, the day was going to be rather interesting to say the least.

"Oi, Kyo-senpai. Should you really be doing any work at all right now? I mean you look like you're ready to fall down and crawl your way...around the...Inn..." Kaoru trailed off as he came to pause in his walk. Kyo had stopped walking, and just stood in the middle of the hall, head still hanging with a shadow cast across her gaze. For a moment, Kaoru blinked stupidly at her actions before he started to retentively reach out a hand towards her shoulder. However, he quickly retracted the limb as if a dog were snapping as Kyo suddenly bolted upright.

"Nows our chance, we can make run for it and send search and rescue later for the others later!" Kyo franticly looked around for an escape route out of the hall and eventually out of the onsen entirely.

Kaoru exhaled a heavy sigh before grabbing the older teen by the upper arm and yanked her back into reality as he took the lead down the hall, dragging her with him. "If I don't keep an eye you, your mother is going to send you to an early grave." He muttered.

With relative ease, Kaoru pulled Kyo along, thanks in part to the fact that her sudden outburst had done her in for the time being. Breaking out from the hall into the intersection that it three other halls passed through, Kaoru pushed Kyo forward in gesture for her to take the lead again as he had no real idea as to where they were supposed to go. Turning off down the hall to their left, the pair finally bumped into the first of many customers they were going to run into from here on out. About halfway down the hall, there was a man and woman chattering with arms linked coming towards them. Moving to the side and politely waiting for them to pass, Kyo and Kaoru bowed out of respect as they went by and received courteous nods and 'hellos'.

"How many people do you think showed up today?" Kaoru asked aloud as he fell back into step alongside Kyo.

She shrugged slowly. "Including the guys, I'd say somewhere near a hundred people will be staying overnight, while the rest will be leaving periodically before night fall. Those are somewhere in around a hundred or more." She replied while adding up a possible current number in her head. "About two hundred people are here at the moment."

Now it was Kaoru's turn to sulk. "I really hate Kyoya-senpai right now."

"Actually, I blame Tamaki for this one." Kyo added in, her lips pulled into a tight line while her arms were crossed over her chest.

_**Elsewhere...**_

"_Achoo!_"

"Wow-ho! Someone's talking about the two of you!" Yusuke announced after both Tamaki and Kyoya sneezed simultaneously. He pointed at the two of them while sporting a massive grin. "I wonder if it's a lovely lady." He huffed a small laugh at the end of sentence while his cheeks turned red at a thought that even the two older boys wanted to avoid knowing.

"Now, now, Yusuke-kun. I'm sure it's just from the sudden drop in the weather. That's all." Tamaki assured the small boy who had begun to wiggle a dance out atop the check-in counter, a rather embarrassed grin forming across his face.

Yusuke's dancing ceased as he slide up next to the tall blonde, his eyebrows wiggled suggestively while he eyes Tamaki. "Are you sure about that? After all, you were being rather freddie with Kyo-neechan earlier today." He muttered in a low tone of voice as if he were saying something only between the two of them.

"Freddie?" Tamaki gave Yusuke a rather puzzled look.

"He meant **friendly**." Kyoya corrected as he punched away at the small padded keys of his PDA. "And Tamaki's right. It's more than likely the weather, but I wouldn't doubt that it could be the remarks of one amongst us." He mused while glancing up at the front door of the onsen as Mori and Kira headed out to shovel the front entrance clear of the newly fallen snow. "Yusuke-kun, why don't you go help your Kira-niichan? I'm sure he and Mori-senpai could use some encouragement while they work."

Yusuke perked up at this and gave an agreeing cheer to this as he hoped down off the counter and ran for the front door. "Snow-shovelin', snow-shovelin'!"

"Oi, Yusuke-kun, you need put some boots on and a hat before you go out there!" Tamaki called after the small boy as he found his duty to watch over him since they had been 'partnered' up together. A loud 'okay' was called back as Yusuke scrambled out the door, jamming a wool knitted hat over his head as he disappeared. Exhaling a sigh, Tamaki shook his head before slumping on the counter top, chin resting atop his folded arms. "Neh, Kyoya."

"Ah?"

"Why did you pair Haruhi off with Hikaru like that?" Tamaki shot a mournful glare at his friend, who was still messing with his PDA and going through the onsen check in books.

"Because I didn't see you running around replacing towels. You'd probably wander off to investigate something anyways." Kyoya replied while finally setting aside his work. "Besides, even though I said you and Yusuke-kun were to stay out of the way, I knew you'd wind up here at the front desk where your talents can be more properly used to great the guests." He pointed out with a small smirk on his face. The two boys went quiet as they stared out the front windows to watch as Yusuke ran around the front entrance trying to catch the small live-in dog that belonged to the onsen. "Cute kid."

"Yeah." Tamaki agreed. "A bit weird though."

"Yeah." Kyoya nodded in complete agreement to this, especially as Yusuke rolled by in a straight line with the dog chasing after him.

_**...Elsewhere**_

Hunny giggled as he and Seo ran back down the hall towards the kitchen to pick up another couple of trays to help several staff members carry out additional trays holding either tea or something else to awaiting customers. Leading the way back to the kitchen, Hunny looked back over his shoulder towards the closely following Seo, and grinned broadly.

"Seo-chan! Hurry up!" Hunny called out cheerfully.

"Hai, hai!" Seo called back as she caught up with him and then took the lead to round the hall corner they were to take.

The two bounded down the next hall giggling like mad before coming to an immediate halt as they caught sight of customers coming down the hall. Stepping off to the side, they bowed out of polite respect for them and also offered pleasant greetings to them as they passed. In return they were greeted back, but unlike the guests that passed Kyo and Kaoru, these ones paused a moment to awe over the rather cute duo who innocently played up their image for the attention. Hunny pulled Seo in close with a hug about her shoulders and beamed up at the several older women who looked like mother's themselves.

"Seo-chan's grandparents own this onsen! And I get to help out!" Hunny chirped excitedly as he looked at Seo with his ever massive child-like grin. "Neh, Seo-chan?" His voice called out the question a sing-song that had the adults sighing at such a cute sight.

"Hai, Hunny-senpai!" Seo returned, her doll shaped face pulling into a big smile that was just the cherry on the top of it all.

All of the women standing in that all exhaled deeply or offered out smalls cries of 'kya!' and 'too cute!'. All of course admirations that Hunny had heard plenty of times during club hours at school. Finding a new sense of entertainment in catering to the delight of the guests, Hunny and Seo continued to run through an on the spot sort of routine that included various grins, smiles, hugs, and poses that had the gleeful cries and applause of the women sounding throughout most of that hall area all the way back to the kitchen.

..._**Elsewhere**_...

"Man, since when has it ever been our job to do such trivial tasks as these?" Hikaru muttered while hoisting the tall cylinder shaped wicker basket up in hands and following after Haruhi towards the second of three large changing rooms for the outdoor hot springs.

Haruhi exhaled quietly to herself while sliding open the door and walking out. "It's the least we can do to help out." She pointed out. "Besides, it's actually kind of fun working at an onsen." A small giggle escaped from her lips as she tucked a better hold on the fresh towels she was carrying.

Although he was still mopping over the whole idea of doing hired hands help, Hikaru felt a sense of defeat overcome him after hearing Haruhi's giggle. A brief red stain crept its way across the tops of his cheeks as he adverted his gaze elsewhere while pursing his lips. "I still don't like doing this." He huffed quietly, making sure that Haruhi didn't hear him.

Popping into the next changing room, after knocking first to make sure they weren't walking in on anything they didn't want to see and vice versa, the pair started changing out the towels dumped off in small baskets set along the walls. Making a face as he tossed the towels into the wicker basket he had been carrying as quickly as possible, Hikaru happened to glance over at a rather decent time to catch sight of a shadow outlines coming up towards the doors leading out to the hot spring itself. He paused for a moment and held a thoughtful look on his face before glancing over at Haruhi.

"Oi, Haruhi, which changing room is this again?" Hikaru asked, brow lifted in question.

"Um, I believe this one is the men's changing room. Why?" Haruhi looked back over her shoulder in time to see the rather sullen look on Hikaru's face. Standing up all the way from her once bent over position as she had been setting new towels into cupboards, it was her turn to lift an eyebrow now in curiosity to his question.

Before anything else could be said between them, the drifting voices of men started to become much more apparent as guests having used the hot spring were now returning. Both Hikaru and Haruhi froze out of complete shock to the fact that either half naked, or completely naked men were about to walk in. Haruhi held more a terrified look on her face at the thought and found she was unable to begin making a mad dash for the door leading back out into the hall. _Damn!_

"No way are you serious? I thought account was locked for sure!"

"Feh, that's what everyone thought and counted on, and now look what happened! Man, we're gonna end up a pitfall if the boss doesn't pull something out of his ass for sure."

"Damn."

The door started to slide open.

And in a flash, and possibly with a speed that could rival that of Kyo, Hikaru had grabbed Haruhi, and the towel basket, and sped out of the room as if all life depended on it. Rocketing down the hall to it's farthest end, Hikaru didn't stop until he had reached it, and only then did he put Haruhi down from hooked under his arm position. "Holy hell...that...was...way too...close..." Hikaru panted while falling forward to his knees and then slid down on the ground. _I bet this how Kyo-senpai feels right now with that whole weird weather thing._ A withdrawn look pulled its way across his face.

Haruhi on the other hand had slumped down to the ground and sat on her knees, eyes wide and staring off into space as she was still shell-shocked from the whole experience of almost seeing probably one of the most god-awful sights in the world – naked, overweight, business men. "Hikaru-kun..." She trailed off in a low tone of voice that just barely above a whisper. "Did - ?"

"Yeah. I saved your life, it was great." Hikaru muttered while picking himself up off the ground. "Now, can we please just forget about this whole changing towels thing?! I'd rather go yell Kyoya-senpai for nearly scaring us for life." He stated while grabbing Haruhi's hand and yanked her to her feet. However, Haruhi's body was still unable to actually support itself properly, and the brunette tipped forward. Catching her and holding her up, Hikaru could feel his face burning as the close proximity he shared with Haruhi was a bit, well, close. "Um, Haruhi, can you stand on your own?" Hikaru stuttered while trying to push her back a bit to see if she had finally snapped out of it.

Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, Haruhi was able to focus a bit more and gain a sense of balance. "Yeah, I think I can." She replied while blinking a few times.

Releasing her quickly, Hikaru quietly coughed into a fist, his cheeks still retaining a lot of the red that had crept up out of nowhere in a blush. "Fine. Let's go find Kyoya-senpai." He huffed while turning about on his heel and started off down the hall, only to make a dead stop just a few feet away from where he had originally been standing. "Haruhi."

"Yeah?"

"How do we get back to the front desk?"

_**Another elsewhere...**_

Each shovel full of snow was hefted off to the side and cleared another patch of walkway coming up from the parking lot, allowing visitors and guests a much safer route up to the front doors. For a good twenty minutes or so, Kira and Mori had been shoveling snow, and for the passed fifteen minutes of that time, Yusuke had provided a rather unnecessary "helping hand". Starting out with a small spatula he had picked out of the kitchen (kami-sama only knows when), Yusuke had decided he was going to shovel snow as well. Two small patches later and his mother stormed out of the onsen and took his _mini-snow shovel_ away.

Still, little Yusuke was not going to be deterred in helping out! And thus, he disappeared for a few minutes, leaving Kira and Mori to their work...in peace.

"Kyo-kun... she's light."

Kira paused in mid-shovel and glanced over at the normally quiet Mori. It was a bit of an odd statement to hear, and at first Kira was rather confused as to what he was talking about, however it suddenly dawned on him what Mori had meant. A small grin pulled at the corner of his mouth as he nodded. "Honestly, I'm surprised she even let you pick her up like that. Even in her winter stupor, Kyo can put a really decent fight when she needs to." Kira mused while shoveling into the snow bank. "Either she really likes you, or you just got incredibly lucky."

Now it was Mori's turn to pause amidst his work and look towards Kira. "What do you mean?"

Kira shrugged as he continued to work. "Well, most of the time Kyo detests being manhandled in any way shape or form. That's why she can get pretty violent in an all out fight." He pointed out, knowing this information to be all but painfully true. "But she just let you sling her over your shoulder without too much of a fight. I'm impressed." The tone of Kira's voice was a bit odd as it bordered on the edge of a jealous compliment as he hefted snow over his shoulder.

Mori stared at Kira with a rather blank look on his face for a moment. He hadn't really expected that, and so was the fact that Yusuke had returned with what looked like a bath mixer in hand.

The long handle of the bath mixer was a good four feet higher over the top of Yusuke's head, but that only caused the whole scene to be even more comical as he tromped about stamping the snow with the flat board end of the mixer. "Snow-shovelin, snow-shovelin, snow-shovelin, snow-shovelin!" He chirped out a rather impromptu little song as he went back and forth in front of his cousin and Mori.

Both boys completely stopped what they were doing and just stared. Mori lifted a brow as he watched the strange little boy continue stamping the snow with the bath mixer. "I don't think that constitutes as shoveling snow." He pointed out while still finding Yusuke's need to help out rather amusing, especially since the boy had yet to actually provide the adequate help to shovel snow.

"You can't shovel snow with the bath mixer!" Misae appeared in the doorway of the front entrance, her face bearing an irritated scowl while she stared her small son down. "Bring that back inside!" She shouted while running out towards Yusuke, hands outstretched to take the mixer back. However, Yusuke immediately began running circles about his cousin and Mori in an attempt avoid being caught by his mother, who was shouting for him to stop.

Two minutes later and Misae was headed back inside with the bath mixer in hand. Yusuke stared after her with puffed cheeks and pursed lips as he seemed rather irritated with the fact that his mother had taken the mixer back. "Tch, getting in my way like that." He muttered.

Kira groaned while slapping his own forehead with a palm and hung his head for a moment before taking a breath and shot Yusuke a glare. "You're the one who's getting in the way!"

_**Back to before the first elsewhere...**_

Kyo's face was twisted into a rather unfriendly frown as she brow twitched with pure annoyance.

There was dead silence.

Kaoru's amber colored eyes shifted from a downwards glance over towards Kyo. "Kyo-senpai...it's no use."

"I can see that Kaoru-kun...but I have to at least try." Kyo muttered while pinning her blue-eyed glare on what was in front of her, a serious look holding tightly to her face. "Do you have any, seven's?"

"Dammit!"

The seven of hearts was slammed down on the round rough circular surface of a chopping block, the older man who looked as though he were around his early fifties had a pulsing vein on his right temple in response to being bested for the sixteenth time. Kyo plucked the card up with a very much jesting smirk that looked as though she had turned into the Cheshire Cat for the moment, cat-tail wagging behind her as she picked her own seven card out and added the pair to her rather decent sized pile of prizes at her side.

Kaoru stared at her pile of cards with a large wide-eyed gaze that showed both his sense of awe and shock at just how good Kyo was at Go-Fish. "Incredible. Kyo-senpai is winning again!"

"That's only because she cheats!" Another middle-aged man snorted while moping over his own rather pathetic pile of two sets of matched cards. "It's because of her shinobi skills! She can see my cards even when they're facing me!"

"I don't have x-ray vision." Kyo retorted, her expression flat and unamused at such an accusation/compliment.

Kaoru exhaled as he glanced at his own cards. "At this rate she'll win again." He grimaced at the thought of loosing yet another game to Kyo.

The small group of four had been playing cards for the passed hour and a half now after Kyo and Kaoru appeared on the backside of onsen to gather up the small tinder logs that had been chopped and split. Just how the game started was a rather curious mystery even to its players, but needless to say they had completely forgotten about their tasks as the challenge to defeat Kyo had become rather apparent as she had claimed each round as her own.

"Kiddo, you got skills that even a veteran gambler would crave." The man who had been fortunate enough to not loose to Kyo chuckled as he set his own card hand down on the chopping block and stretched his arms high up over his head. Tilting his head to the left and then to the right, the pop of neck joints causing both Kyo and Kaoru to flinch. "Well, back to work." He announced while standing up, hips twisting to further furrow out the kinks in his older body.

"Oh come on!" Kyo looked up at him with a childish scowl on her face. "They don't need wood right now. Let's go one more round." She held the hand she still had going up for emphasis.

Grunting a small laugh, he shook his head. "Sorry kiddo, but we need to get back to work before your mother or aunt comes out looking for us." He shuddered at the thought of what could happen if that came to pass.

Nodding in agreement, the other gentleman got back up on his feet as well and followed after his co-worker, leaving Kyo and Kaoru sitting around the chopping block with a bit of an annoyed look on their faces.

Kaoru shrugged while setting his own card hand down as well and started scooping the deck together. "They're right, Kyo-senpai. We should probably look busy as well." He caught sight of a rather frustrated frown burying its way across Kyo's face, and Kaoru couldn't help but smirk as he continued to shuffle the deck. "Not everyone is as suicidal as you are, Kyo-senpai." Kaoru teased.

"Feh!" Kyo smacked her cards down and turned her back to the Hitachiin brother, arms shoving their way across her chest.

Pausing a moment to watch her, Kaoru couldn't help but be reminded of a stubborn child who had been told they couldn't have a piece of candy. "Kyo-chan." His odd use of the friendly suffix caused Kyo to glance back over her shoulder with raised brows only to have the middle of her forehead flicked.

Kyo grabbed at the middle of her forehead and shot the rust-haired boy a rather nasty look. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Stop pouting." Kaoru replied simply as he tapped the newly stacked deck to even out its placement. "It's cute, but after a while you become a bit redundant."

Her jaw went slack as she stared at Kaoru, his comment having completely caught her off-guard. Shaking her head quickly, Kyo stood up and rubbed the back of her neck quickly while she tried to play off the rather odd blush creeping over her face. "W-Whatever." She muttered.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Okay, I totally promise that the next chapter will be the end to onsen adventure! I swear! Cross my heart and hope to die.

But I would like to leave with a preview to the next exciting episode of Hey, Juliet!

_In the next chapter, the question of whether or not Kira will tell Kyo about their arranged marriage will be answered, who is it exactly that is "matched up" with Kyo will be made perfectly clear, and maybe...just maybe...Yusuke will dance again!_


	28. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 7

_**Chapter Twenty-Eight**_

_**The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Seven**_

**12:15 am**

"FUZAKE NA!"

The whole courtyard of the shrine echoed loudly in the dead silence that surrounded the snow covered grounds in the middle of the night. No sooner had the declaration been made, the harsh striking of sprinting steps entered in next followed by the dull thud of a full on strike to some open area of the human body. Another dull thud, followed by another, and then a rapid succession of higher pitched strikes before the screeching slid of hard leather soles scraping against slick stone.

On one side of the massive courtyard, Kyo hit the bitter cold earth with her left knee as her own body weight was becoming far too heavy for herself to uphold any longer. She gasped, sucking in long deep breaths of the chill winter air, the oxygen biting her lungs as it entered and then exited in a warm pant. Slowly, the creeping trail of thick crimson made its way down from her left temple and as it followed the curve of her oval drop shaped face, it sprouted two smaller trails as it met with sweat towards the line defining line of her jaw.

From the middle of a now swollen bottom lip, more of the vibrant liquid was now clotting to create a dam to the potential torrent wanting to rush forth from the gash inflicted about three minutes ago by the knuckles of Kira's fist. From either nostril of her nose, blood was trickling down to pool for a moment within the shallow ridge above her upper lip before spilling over and leaking into her mouth to twist her sense with the tangy pinch of what tasted like copper. One of the most hellish scowls had set itself across Kyo's face, furrowing deep lines between her brows and causing what blood there was coming from the middle of her forehead to separate itself from one flowing line into several few that traced the lines of her scowl.

"FIFTEEN MINUTES!"

From across the way, Kira's own battered and bleeding face twisted. The long gash running down his right cheek in a deep angle felt as though it were splitting even further as the muscles in his face withered and curled to form his look of frustration. At his side, his right arm hung limp in an unusable state as Kyo had managed to catch the very middle of his bicep and snapped the bone beneath in two. It was agonizing pain of course, near unbearable, and it would have had the older Uchiwa begging for this fight to end here and now. But to do so, meant the utter defeat of Kyo in the end. _I can't do that to her. She doesn't deserve any of what she's been put through here! Kyo! Show them! Show them that you don't need to be protected like this! _"Oi! _Boumei_! You gonna start getting serious now?!" He shouted while pulling his body into another ready stance.

Kyo's right hand curled into a fist, nails digging into the soft underside of her palm, bitting in and producing the faint red lines of blood between her knuckles. "Kono yarou." She hissed through a rather uneven exhale, her ribs throbbing and possibly even digging into her sides to cause an extreme amount of discomfort for the teen. Forcing herself up, Kyo slid her right foot back to widen her stance while both hands came up before her. With left hand held erect and open, her right hand remained in a fist that was barely able to come level with her shoulder.

As if signaling to one another, Kira and Kyo rushed forward at one another, crossing the open distance between one another quickly. In the last running step, they lunged for one another with fists pulled back and then thrown forward as they screamed one final insult at each other.

**Three Hours Earlier_ - _9:15pm**

The door to the small room accommodating two teenage girls slid shut, the soft click of it fitting into the grove of the frame telling them that it was fully closed now. Haruhi quietly released a long sigh as she looked up and out towards wherever it was her friend had decided to crawl off to, and nearly choked on her sigh as she stared down at the belly-side down and spread-eagle Kyo who had managed to work her way to the middle of the room and flop down "dead". One of those odd sort of silences entered, the distant howl of some forlorn wolf or dog drifting in from far off and rolled right on out, leaving Haruhi to just stare.

Making a move, as if to reach a hand out towards Kyo, Haruhi halted midway as Kyo spoke up rather suddenly. "It wasn't bad." Kyo murmured quietly from her place on the floor. "Maybe because you guys were here...it wasn't bad this time."

More curious that nervous now, Haruhi lifted a questioning brow as she stepped around to take a seat against the off-center table in the room. "What do you mean?" She prodded for a further explanation even though it was a bit uncharacteristic of her to do so.

"Today. Helping out around the onsen." Kyo replied, her face turned off to one side of the room. "Normally, I despise having to help out around here. But today, I had fun."

For a moment longer Haruhi continued to hold a bit of a puzzled look on her face before it dawned on her. A small smile started to slowly slip across Haruhi's face as she allowed her body to relax in its seated position. "I'm glad."

Pushing herself up and turning over so that way she was able to sit a reclined position with arms sticking out behind her as a bracer. "You didn't mind helping out?" Kyo asked, her tired face showing a bit of personal wondering to how Haruhi's day had gone.

Chuckling nervously for a moment as she scratched the back of her head, stalling on her reply as she wasn't sure on how to properly answer that without Kyo having a heart attack. "You know, it was an interesting experience." Haruhi concluded with a goofy lopsided grin on her face, while at the back of her mind she somehow found herself replaying the near blinding experience her and Hikaru were almost subject to.

Kyo watched her, exhaling a small laugh behind her lips before laying down on her back. Tucking her arms behind her head, Kyo stared up at the ceiling overhead. "At least for the rest of the stay here, they'll leave us alone." She sighed quietly, eyes closing as the day and weather had finally overtaken her.

Haruhi chuckled quietly as she stood up and tip-toed her way over to the small closet where her suitcase had been stowed during the room change. Rummaging through her belongings, Haruhi pulled out a few things as she had been itching to use the hot springs the onsen was famous for. For a brief moment she wondered whether or not she should wake Kyo up and let her know that she was headed out for the hot spring or even ask her if she wanted to go. However, Haruhi decided to let the older girl sleep as Kyo shifted over on to her side and curled up her body a bit.

_Never mind then_. Haruhi smiled to herself as she slipped out into the hall and closed the door behind her.

**9:30pm**

The soft glow of indoor lights cast a peachy shade out on to the back porch, washing over Uchiwa Kira as he sat on the edge of the wooden porch, feet kicking slowly at two inch thick layer of snow. The bonsai gardens that surrounded the back portion of the onsen helped map out the layout for the bamboo slat walls that sectioned off the hot springs on only two sides each. But the gardens also happened to be the favorite retreat for many of the younger members of the Uchiwa family when visiting the onsen.

Kira stared off into the darkness that overlaid the tranquil garden, amber eyes shadowed by his long bangs. A lot was weighing on his mind at that moment; the events of the day had been both interesting and rather amusing, but there was something else that he needed to be focused on. His hand flexed, closing into a gentle fist and then uncurling in his lap, a habit of his when he sat in deep thought. _I need to tell her, talk to her, make her see that everything that I've done was for her own good. She's not going to buy that. She's going to flip._

Exhaling quietly, Kira rubbed at the middle of his forehead as the first prickling signs of an oncoming headache were starting to appear. Taking in a deep breath, Kira exhaled slowly and stared out through the space between his fingers with a rather tired look.

"My, my, what a beautiful night."

Glancing up in a rather awkward sideways manner, Kira was a bit surprised that his grandfather Hiroshi had appeared without even so much as a sound before speaking up. Then again, he had been rather consumed with his own thoughts, blocking out the rest of the world for nearly an hour.

Uchiwa Hiroshi stood as his grandson's side, arms neatly tucked behind his back and aged face tilted up towards the night sky overhead that winked with the silver twinkle of stars. His dark eyes reflecting a bit of the celestial light with a rather mischievous glint right at the corner. There was a rather content look on his face, the faint pull of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Kira knew better. Following his grandfather's direction of stare, Kira watched the stars for a moment, taking note of where the moon had positioned itself, and then prepared for whatever it was his grandfather had come out to speak with him on. Something deep down yanked towards the particular subject he had been dwelling on, and although he tried to ignore that, the fact that there were six other guys from Kyo's school now at the onsen as well. If Kira could tell that they were close to Kyo, it was painfully obvious to the rest of the adults in the family then as well, and that meant one nasty problem Kira had hoped that Kyo would remain blissfully unaware of.

"It's a very nice night." Kira agreed to the observation, his tone of voice mimicking that of his grandfather's – _calm_.

Hiroshi nodded and began picking out the various constellations. "Kira-kun, it's nice to have you back home for the holidays." Hiroshi stated, the smile pulling a bit more at the corners of his mouth. Kira made a small noise in response to this, something akin to a '_hn_'. "Your grandmother is just thrilled to have all of you kids here. She was just going on and on about it, even before you all arrived."

"Grandma's always like that." Kira pointed out while growing a bit annoyed with the small talk. "Grandpa."

"Hm?"

Kira looked up at him. "Is there a reason you like to beat the freaking bush to death?" His brow had creased a bit as he spoke.

Casting a grin down upon his grandson, Hiroshi chuckled quietly behind his thin lips. "As observant as always Kira-kun." He mused before looking back up towards the stars. "Those boys that showed up today, they're friends of Kyo-chan's from Ouran, yes?"

The question was left to hang in the air, dangling over Kira like a dead weight ready to snap on a very thin thread. Cringing slightly, Kira forced himself to relax. "Yeah they are. Good friends too from what I've heard." He replied quietly.

Hiroshi nodded. "Good. Good. Kyo-chan needs friends like that, especially after having changed schools. That could be tough on anyone." He stroked the tip of his chin thoughtfully for a moment before pausing and holding up a finger as if something had struck him. "Are any of them, especially close to Kyo-chan?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no. But I wouldn't doubt that one or a couple of them have a crush on her possibly, and maybe she them." Kira felt both a twang of guilt and smug satisfaction as he spoke. He could see the fault in his grandfather's tried act of remaining curious and calm. _I knew it. _"Why do you ask?"

A rather unexpected look of brief irritation scrawled quickly across Hiroshi's face as he looked down at Kira, causing he twenty-two year old collage student to flinch. "Kira-kun," His tone had dropped to a low frequency that was stern, "Have you talked to your cousin at all?"

Now it was Kira's turn to scowl. "Why are you all still so set on forcing Kyo into this engagement? How's it going to be a problem later on when she comes into her inheritance?" Kira snapped, knowing full well that he should be careful with his tone of voice, but at the moment that bit of logic escaped him. "Grandpa, give Kyo some credit! She's capable of protecting herself! She doesn't need an engagement like this to ensure the safety of her future, she's strong enough to do that herself!"

"Watch your tone of voice." Hiroshi cut him off quickly. Arms now folding across his chest, the glint gone from his eye as well as the smile from his face. "Kira-kun, we explained to you why this has to happen. There are some things that Kyo-chan may not be able to stand against on her own when they come."

"Not now, no. But who's to say she won't be able to later on? Isn't that going to be her husband's job anyways? And what about the rest of the family; grandma, Aunt Umi, and Uncle Ichigo? What about them? Why wouldn't they stand with her against these problems?" Kira's frustration for the subject had finally reached its boiling point. Maybe it was the mistake of the adults to have dumped this news down on him at such a young age, or the utter mistake of everyone to think that Kyo wouldn't be able to take care of herself; either which way, it pissed Kira off as they were making out as though Kyo would be all alone.

For a moment, Uchiwa Hiroshi was quiet and allowed his gaze to stare at his grandson with the look of judgment within their depths. Taking in a deep breath, Hiroshi closed his eyes as he exhaled. "Go tell Kyo. Now. Tonight." His words were stiff. "I want to talk to the two of you in the main sitting room in an hour. We'll settle this one way or another." With that said, Hiroshi gave his grandson one last even look before turning about and heading back inside the Inn.

Kira watched him with a sideways glance, waiting until the door shut before he hung his head and groaned quietly. _Shit_.

**9:55pm**

It was quiet. Even the faint hum of the lights in the hallway were unable to be accounted as noise. Inside the shared room, Kyo was still asleep on the ground. She had since turned over onto her left side, back facing the door of the room. Her arms were curled up under her chin, the only source of added warmth aside from the heater being the sweater hoodie she was still wearing along with her jeans and red socks. Her breathing was steady, a low hush like whisper as she inhaled and exhaled.

Her body had taken a rather fare beating that day with the immediate onset of winter weather being the major culprit. Originally, Kyo had planned to go to the hot springs with Haruhi in the evening, but that was before the other boys of the Host Club arrived, and before she had been hunted down by her mother and aunt while being jumped by her father as well. Kyo deserved to go to bed early.

Out in the hall, soft footsteps padded down in Kyo's direction but stopped at the door across from hers'. Kaoru, dressed in traditional robe and sandals, had been sent back to the room he was sharing with the other guys to grab his and Hikaru's water guns that they had packed. The plan was to possibly water-log Tamaki every chance they got until he got out of the hot spring. Unfortunately, both boys wanted to include Kyo in on the event, but seeing as how the hot springs were sectioned off specifically with a tall bamboo wall, that wasn't going to be possible. That and the fact that Kyo was absent from the hot springs.

Remembering that little bit at the end, Kaoru paused outside the door and cast a quick glance back over his shoulder at the other door. _Is she in there? Haruhi didn't say where Kyo was when we asked her. _Lifting a curious brow, Kaoru glanced back down the hall and then up the hall to make sure the coast was clear before turning about and taking hold of the door handle to girls' room. Knocking to make sure he wasn't about to walk in on something he probably shouldn't see just yet, Kaoru waited and when he didn't get a reply back of any kind, he slowly slid the door open.

"Pardon the interruption." Kaoru murmured quietly as he peeked into the dim room, eyes squinting as they adjusted to the lack of proper lighting. At first glance, Kaoru saw no sign of anyone in the room and was about to leave had it not been for the fact that he noticed the small amount of movement down on the floor. Perking up in response to finding the missing Kyo curled up on the floor, Kaoru stepped further into the room and tip-toed his way over to Kyo. Glancing down over her shoulder to see whether or not she really was asleep, Kaoru smirked slightly. _She is asleep. _"Weird." He murmured quietly while shrugging to himself and then carefully made his way over to the closet space.

Just as quietly as he had entered and crept about, Kaoru pulled a blanket out of the closet and spread it out over the sleeping Kyo. For some reason, he hesitated at her side, staring down at her sleeping face for a brief moment, Kaoru felt a rather nagging poke at the back of his mind. Something had been bothering for a while now ever since Kira showed up at Ouran. What it was, the younger out of the Hitachiin duo was unsure of at the moment, and thus it was starting to irritate him. Shrugging, Kaoru quietly got back up to his feet and headed for the door but paused mid-step as he heard Kyo move and begin muttering in her sleep.

"_Hm, I only had the miso soup, I don't see why we should split the bill."_

A rather dumbstruck look took over Kaoru's face, a bead of sweat crawling its way down his temple. _What the hell, she talks in her sleep?_ He quirked a brow now as his devious little mind, shared alike with his twin brother, started to concoct a rather fun idea. _She talks in her sleep_. He grinned slyly while looking back towards the door quickly to make sure no one was about to come through the door at that moment. Snickering quietly to himself, Kaoru tip-toed back to Kyo's side and sat down facing her back.

Cupping his right hand around his mouth, Kaoru leaned down toward Kyo's ear. _"But your miso was more expensive than my lunch tray."_

Kyo's brow creased slightly in response although she remained asleep. _"No it wasn't."_

Kaoru pulled away for a moment and snickered behind his hands. This was a rather entertaining game. _"Kyo-senpai you're so cruel!"_ He mewed, voice catching a bit to add a little of that childish pitch.

"_B-But..."_ She trailed off, lips muttering out something else out that Kaoru couldn't catch since there was absolutely no sound.

Pursing his lips for a moment, Kaoru found that a light bulb went off above his head as something struck him. _"Kyo-senpai, I demand that you pay for your half of the meal!"_

In response her face contorted into a bit of a frown before she replied in her sleep talk. _"Fuzake na!" _She muttered before curling further beneath the blanket Kaoru had draped down on her.

Quietly, Kaoru fell backwards as he cracked up behind the shield of his two hands. He was definitely going to have to tell Hikaru about this.

**10:05pm**

Making his way down the halls at a slow pace, Kira held a rather grim look on his face. Every step was growing harder and harder to take as he that they were leading him straight to Kyo. He wanted to tell her, but not like this. Not forced and then dragged off to speak with their grandfather so that way she could be given a lecture and forbidden to ever get any closer to her male friends than she already was. More than likely, Kyo was going to break beneath it all, or she was going to slip out and challenge what was already setup for her future.

_Shit_. Kira gritted his teeth, hands clamping into fists at his sides. He didn't want this, he never wanted it. There was just no possible way he could ever look at Kyo like that, ever. It would be literal torture for the two of them, and the last thing that would destroy their family bond for good. _I cannot let that happen. No matter what! Even if it means being disowned by my family, I will not put Kyo through that! _

Before he knew it, Kira stood before the door of the room his cousin was sharing for the next three days with her friend from school. The lights were out, and for a moment he wondered if her and Haruhi had gone off to the hot springs. Knocking softly on the door of the room, Kira waited, listening to see if there was a response. When none came, he knocked again, this time much louder. There, the shuffle of someone getting up and making their way to the door. For a second Kira cursed, but then turned to the hope that maybe it was Haruhi. However, luck was nowhere to be found that night as the door slid open quickly to reveal a half asleep Kyo teetering in the doorway.

"What the hell do you want?" Kyo asked through a yawn, the back of her hand coming to rub at her right eye. Even in her tired state Kyo still managed to produce a scowl aimed at her cousin.

"Geez, you're a grouch no matter what." Kira muttered beneath his breath and then eyed the sudden glare snapping down on him. "Is Haruhi with you in there?"

Kyo shook her head. "No, I think she went with some of the guys to the hot springs maybe. Or dinner..." She trailed off as she felt as though she had had an argument about soup and a dinner bill with someone, but wasn't quite sure.

Kira winced but shoved it aside roughly as he stepped forward, prompting Kyo to step back out of instinct. "We need to talk."

"Kira, go the hell away already, I was sleeping!" Kyo snapped, her half asleep state now becoming much more awake and irritated.

"Kyo shut up and just go inside!" Kira snapped back.

The two stared each other down for a moment before Kyo finally huffed and stepped aside to let Kira into the room. Flipping the light on, Kyo watched her cousin pass by with an even glare over her shoulder. Her normal inability to tolerate her older cousin's presence was as apparent as ever, but the remains of what was left from her slumber managed to keep her mildly subdued for the moment. Opting to stand rather than sit down on the floor alongside the kotetsu, Kira faced Kyo with a rather unpleasant look on his face that looked akin to a grimace of some kind. Remaining near the door, Kyo leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over her chest as she stared at Kira.

"About our fight at your school. I..."

"I don't your damn apology Kira." Kyo cut him off rather quickly, her face twisting a bit to show off a rather unamused appeal to what he was saying.

Taking in a deep breath, Kira shook his head while rubbing at the back of his neck. "Kyo let me finish." He retorted. "Whether or not you like it, I am apologizing for it. I could have gotten you expelled from Ouran because I unnecessarily provoked you. But that's not the reason I came to talk to you." Kira stated. "You remember when we started fighting like this?"

"I was ten, you were sixteen, and it was at one of the family gatherings." Kyo replied bluntly, her tone of voice showing nothing other than growing annoyance for the conversation.

Nodding, Kira flinched beneath the thought of what he had called her that day and done. "I...I didn't start beating you up for the fun of it. Your parents, my parents, and grandma and grandpa had taken me into the house to talk to me. They told me that, they were concerned about your future, whether or not you would be able to come into your inheritance without a problem or not. I didn't understand why they were telling me all of this, I mean I was sixteen." Kira gave Kyo a pleading look that begged for her just to hear him out to the end. "Because they were worried, they had decided that they wanted me to help out with a safeguard to ensure that you received your inheritance when the time came. So, they had all decided that...you..." He couldn't do it, he couldn't tell her.

Kyo eyed him carefully, both curious to hear what they had told Kira and also annoyed that he was now stuttering and trailing off in the middle of a sentence. "Yeah, and?"

_How do I tell her?! _"You and I," he stopped, took a breath to slow his rapidly pounding heart down as it was literally smashing up against his ribcage. "Are engaged."

...silence..._utter_ silence...deafening silence...and then...

"**WHAT?!"**

**10:30pm**

The door to the main sitting room nearly flew off its wooden track that guided it into the pocket seam. Uchiwa Hiroshi and his wife Fuu looked up from the tea they had been sipping on for the passed few minutes, their sons Ichigo and Hatori sat with them alongside their own wives, Umi and Michiru. All eyes turned up in a casual sort of manner that suggested that they had been anticipating this type of entrance after hearing the enormous shout of hell-laced fury explode from the direction of the family rooms.

Blue eyes glared angrily at all present in the room, void of the normal eye shine or even the reflection of the soft lights inside, thus giving the gaze of Uchiwa Kyo and unbelievably malicious look as she stood before them in the doorway. Deep ragged breaths were part of the reason that her body was shaking at that moment, but the rest of the reason was from pure and utter rage that pumped its way through her whole body.

"Kyo-chan, please keep your voice down. It's late and our customers are trying to sleep." Hiroshi stated while taking another sip from his tea and then set the steaming cup down on the straw coaster placed before him on the kotetsu. His face was set in a rather unchanging placid expression that showed nothing of his present emotion or even mindset.

Fuu eyed her granddaughter from the corner of her eye as she blew on the surface of her tea. The anger that radiated from Kyo was palpitating and it choked out the atmosphere in the room. _I've never seen her like this before._

Even Kyo's parents tried to hold just as placid looks on their faces, but neither one could hold it as well as grandpa Hiroshi was. Umi was starting to frown, her gaze turning down towards the table as she couldn't bear taking her daughter's look anymore. From his place beside her, Ichigo looked between his father and his daughter, waiting for the explosion he could feel building around them.

"How could you do this to me?!" Kyo finally snarled, her hands gripping the door jam and tightening to the point that the wood started to crack beneath her palms.

"Kyo-chan, I will not tell you again. Keep your voice down." Hiroshi glanced over at his granddaughter with a rather nonchalant look. "Please have a seat. You too Kira-kun."

The older cousin stood back from the fray behind Kyo, swallowing in response to being spotted by their grandfather and called forward. He flinched, as if to go forward, but Kyo's stance in the doorway had yet to even begin changing in any manner. _Kyo...?_

"Answer me. Now!" Kyo snapped, her brow furrowing as a scowl carved a deep refuge on her face.

"Kyo." Kira murmured his cousin's name, sympathy coming through in response to the frustration that cracked in Kyo's voice as she demanded an answer.

Hiroshi's gaze hardened, narrowing as his granddaughter refused to listen to him at all. "It is the only way that we can ensure your financial security. Your future is all that we have been thinking about since we set up the engagement."

Kyo's teeth clenched, lips pulling back in a snarl as she knew exactly what they were saying. "Don't give me that crap!" She growled beneath her breath as she momentarily allowed her gaze to stare down at the ground. "You're always saying that you only do it "to protect me", and I'm tired of hearing it! I don't need to be protected like this!"

"Kyo-chan!" Umi sat up straight, hands slapping down on the kotetsu top. Her dark eyed gaze shot over to her daughter with an exasperated and near pleading look. "Please, try understand we feel about this as well! We never wanted to force you into anything, over never make choices about your life without first speaking with you! But we are at a loss here!" She stated, rather harshly at that.

Ichigo stared at his daughter, eyes squinting slightly as if he were studying her every flinching movement. However, as his wife was near bursting into hysterics, he set a hand on hers' in a gentle push for her to stop talking before the wrong thing slipped out. Keeping his gaze on Kyo, Ichigo never once changed his steady expression. "Kyo, this is all not set in stone, but for now you have to understand that this engagement will lock your inheritance. Yes, it is to protect you, and it is the only way we can, even if you are tired of hearing it."

Kyo's hands fell at her sides, balling into fists as angry tears began to sting her eyes. _This wrong! This all wrong! Kira never wanted this, I don't want this! It's because of this I have hated my cousin and tried to beat the living shit out of him every time we met up. _Her teeth clenched tightly while her lips pulled back in a near snarl. _He was like my brother, and not even knowing why, I hated him! _

"Kyo doesn't need to be protected like this." Kira spoke up, forcing his way out from behind her finally. "She is not incapable of protecting or standing up for herself. You all worry that because she's adopted, because she's not Japanese, that she's vulnerable to everyone and anything; but she's not! If you hadn't noticed, Kyo has always been able to hold her own, even against me!" He snapped, topaz gaze narrowing on his own parents and relatives as he spoke.

"From what I understand, Kyo-chan has yet to actually beat you." Hiroshi mused while stroking his chin, the small amount of stubble scraping beneath his fingertips. "But, I suppose if there is a way to get around this whole issue..." He trailed off, glancing from the corner of his eye at Kyo who growled quietly at the ground through clenched teeth.

Her body shook. Her eyes stung. Her temper was ready to explode. "I...I would run away." It was muttered out at first, barely loud enough for anyone other than Kira to hear. "I would run away with whoever I was in love with. I would run away and elope." Her sentences were shaky, rippling with the near non-existent control over her anger.

This small statement, the beginning of a rebellion if necessary, was enough to shake everyone in the room, her parents most of all. Even her aunt and uncle stared at her with dropped jaws and wide eyes. They had always known Kyo to be stubborn kid growing up, challenging anything that anyone threw at her, but this was completely unexpected. Although she was known for a few many things that defined her personality; inability to actually fully confront a problem, retain her temper in stressful situations, or even listen to authority – Kyo was definitely not known for taking drastic measures of any kind such as threatening to run away with whatever guy chanced into her life and loved her.

Hiroshi nodded slowly, and then stood to his feet. "Very well then. We will see for ourselves whether or not the engagement is necessary or not." He announced, grey eyes holding fast upon his two grandchildren. "Kira-kun, Kyo-chan; the two of you will engage in a battle in the shrine courtyard beneath the eyes of the great shinobi who formed the Uchiwa clan long ago. If Kyo-chan is capable of beating Kira-kun into either submission or utter defeat, then the engagement will be called off. However, if Kyo-chan is unable to defeat Kira-kun, she will adhere to the set engagement no matter what."

For a moment, Kyo stared at her grandfather, eyes having coming up off the floor as he outlined a rather unusual proposition that her spirit seemed to alight to at that moment with the hope of determining her own future. Kira on the other hand stared dumbfounded between his grandfather and Kyo. It wasn't as though Kira was not used to fighting with Kyo, it was the fact that his grandfather proposed the idea.

"Dear!" Uchiwa Fuu jerked in her seat, eyes nearly as large as saucers as she listened to her husband speak. "You can't be serious?! We've heard about the fights these two have engaged in before, seen the injuries they've inflicted on one another, why would you even begin to suggest something like this?!" Her tone of voice sounded desperate to intervene and keep her grandchildren safe.

"Mom's right dad." Ichigo stood to his feet, his own worry as high as his mother's. "What would this fight prove anyways?"

Even Hatori seemed to disagree with this idea, his brow pulling into a deep furrow. "There has to be another way we can work through this and come to a much more reasonable solution."

"No Hatori, there's not." Hiroshi his family a rather stern look to silence them. "If Kyo-chan says she doesn't need our protection, then she needs to prove it and demonstrate her ability to stand her ground." He stated.

While the Uchiwa family argued and debated, there were ears nearby that listened in accidentally upon passing by on the way back to their room. Quietly he listened, hands wringing tightly the whole time. His amber-eyed gaze was a bit wide as he stared down at the porch beneath his feet. _She's engaged to Kira?! How could they...? Why would they...? _And as the proposition of a last fight to determine Kyo's future, his breath caught just within his throat. _Kyo-senpai!_

**11:20pm**

"What?!" Tamaki grabbed a hold of Kaoru's shirt collar, yanking the first-year forward in a jerk that nearly knocked him off his feet. "Are you absolutely sure about this?!"

"Why would I come running in here if I wasn't?!" Kaoru snapped back while giving the blonde a rather unhappy look. "Her grandpa said that they would be going out to the shrine courtyard in about twenty minutes." His tone of voice had all but completely changed as a sense of worried frustration was taking over.

Letting go of Kaoru, Tamaki stumbled back a few steps with a clearly disturbed look on his face. "That's, that's insane." He mumbled.

"That's insane?" Hikaru butted in suddenly, his amber gaze shooting daggers at Tamaki. "How about you four not telling the rest of us about this whole Kyo engaged to Kira thing?!" He snarled, eyes flashing as he pointed an accusing finger at Tamaki.

Kyoya shook his head. "Hikaru-kun, Kyo-chan didn't know anything about the engagement either." He pointed out, grey eyes looking down at the Hitachiin boy from behind the rims of his glasses. "It wouldn't have been right for all of us to know about something that she herself was unaware of at the same time."

"Yeah, but...!" Hikaru trailed off as he couldn't quite find a necessary manner in order to further argue with Kyoya. He shivered slightly beneath his sweatshirt as the winter cold curled in around everyone standing out on the side porch that lead out from the shared room that the boys were occupying.

They had all left the hot springs after the twins nearly succeeded in drowning Tamaki with excellent shots from their water guns and made their way back to the rooms provided for their stay. Haruhi was the first one alerted to the fact that Kyo happened to be absent from their room and once she had alerted the guys to this fact, Tamaki immediately suggested that they all go out in search of their missing eighth member to the Ouran High Host Club. While the twins and Kyoya declined to doing so, stating that Kyo was probably just out with her family or something, Tamaki's persistence prevailed and begrudgingly the rest of the Host Club tromped off to "find" Kyo.

While no one else took it seriously, Tamaki of course searched high and low for his missing friend and even earned himself a few death threats from several customers he nearly walked in on out in the baths. But as luck would have it, it would be Kaoru who would stumble in on the irate arguments between Uchiwa family members, and learned of the forced engagement between Kyo and Kira. And so, the Host Club sat out on the side porch that wrapped about the various points outside the Inn, and were given the startling news that three out of seven were left in the dark about (Kyo no longer counting she knew before the twins and Haruhi).

Haruhi sat off to the side, having seated herself on the lip of the porch where she dangled her feet over to kick at the snow with the toe of her shoe. It was disturbing to say the least, and it was incredibly hard to imagine how Kyo felt right now. _She can't really control her temper, so I'm assuming she probably punched a hole into something or broke something somehow._ Haruhi's foot paused after flicking a rather decent sized clump up into the air. _Are you really going to fight Kira-san again?_

"I'm going to the shrine."

Everyone froze, their arguments or thoughts about the current situation halting in mid-stride as Hunny's small voice chirped in out of nowhere.

The small blonde stood on the porch with his gaze set out towards where it was the shrine sat. A rather serious look crossed his childish-face. "Kyon-chan, she'll need someone in her corner." He spoke in a mellow tone of voice that held everyone's attention in a captivated manner. Hunny turned his head, looking at his friends with look in his eyes that they reflected back at him. "I'm going to the shrine."

* * *

**Fuzake Na: **An infamous line used by Edward Elric in _**Full Metal Alchemist**_. Translated it means - "Don't fuck with me!"

**Boumei: **_'Exile'_

**Kono yarou:** _'This bastard'_

* * *

**Author's Note: **Damn, it does look like this will finally end in chapter twenty-nine, the whole sticky situation Kyo has found herself in now anyways. Well, it has finally come! The ultimate showdown between Kyo and Kira, cousin against cousin, in one epic fight that no one would thought possible to occur in the realm of **Ouran High Host Club**! lol, me and my warped mind. 


	29. The Great Winter Break Escapade Part 8

_**Chapter Twenty-Nine**_

_**The Great Winter Escapade – Part Eight**_

* * *

_A hero's greatest act is to lay down his sword. _- _**Hero**_

* * *

**11:50pm**

For the first time ever, the long walk up the small mountainside seemed to take near an eternity to traverse. Only the soft crunching of fresh snow beneath the treads of shoes murmured out into the cold night air. Not one of them spoke as they made their way to the shrine. At the lead of the family group was grandfather Hiroshi and grandmother Fuu, while positioned behind them and in front of their parents, Kira and Kyo followed.

If the order had been done in order to ensure the fact that neither teen broke off, it wasn't necessary, but either way it made for a rather stiff sight that suggested the adults expected them to bolt.

As the shrine came into view, Kyo was the first one to show any expression outside the solemn silence that overtaken the group as her gaze lifted and the look on her face flinched. The shrine was normally a place that Kyo enjoyed coming to, cooking sweet potatoes with her younger cousins, romping about the grounds and pretending to be ninja (back in her younger days), just having all out fun. But those happy memories were quickly swiped away and replaced with the looming shadow of a foreboding battleground that now loomed up over her.

The end of the walk appeared as they set foot on the large flat flagstones that paved the expansive courtyard of the shrine. There was a still silence that had since settled over the shrine at sunset and gave it one of those eerie auras that sent a chill up the spine. There was no light, aside from the stars and moon up above, the ethereal shimmer of the distant light pale against the newly fallen snow was haunting.

Kyo's gaze narrowed as they walked across the courtyard to the front of the shrine. No doubt her grandfather was going to light the outdoor lamps and torches to illuminate the grounds. The cold air was starting to sting as it breezed over her face and neck, and already Kyo was regretting the fact that she wasn't wearing a jacket other than the simple sweatshirt hoodie she had on.

The crackle of fire burning in the bitter air popped and fizzled, sparks flicking off into the air, drifting along for a few seconds before dying out into simple ash. Grinning shadows jumped out across the courtyard and the entry porch, dancing in time to the flicker and movement of the burning flames they stretched out from.

"Hiroshi, are you sure about this?" Fuu murmured quietly in question as she stood behind her husband. The rest of the family stood down on the courtyard floor as they stood elevated a few feet up on the porch.

Hiroshi flicked his wrist a few times to put out the long thin match he had used to light the mounted lanterns on either side of the arched doorway. He remained silent and made sure to avoid meeting his wife's gaze altogether. Walking out from around her, Hiroshi made his way back down the small set of wide steps and came to stand before his agitated grandchildren. "Are you two ready?"

Kyo's brow furrowed darkly, her mouth opening to possibly spew a fury of a verbal assault on her grandfather, but instead her own voice was replaced.

"Wait!"

All attention turned to watch as the group of seven boys and one girl came hurrying up from the same path that they had just traversed in order to reach the shrine. Tamaki led the way, looking ever the dashing princely figure as he ran across the shrine courtyard making a beeline for Kyo specifically.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Kyo stared at her friends with a rather shocked look. How they even knew about what was going to happen, Kyo had no idea and it bothered her at the moment. She didn't want them here for this. "You can't be here, you need to leave."

Tamaki stopped just before Kyo, a hand slapping down on her shoulder harshly as he bent forward to catch his breath. "Kyo...we're here...to support you." He wheezed, his other hand coming up to grab her other shoulder as he met her gaze. "I will not let you be alone in this!"

"Tamaki-senpai is right." Haruhi quickly spoke up as she stood off to Tamaki's left. "If you're going to fight for your freedom, then we want to be here to support you. No matter what."

The twins nodded in unison to this while Hunny bounced up and down with a fist clenched in a cheering gesture. Mori and Kyoya merely nodded, not really ones to openly show their complete emotion to the situation.

"Kyo-chan, your friends cannot be here for this." Hiroshi's gruff tone was only further expressed by his harsh stance. "The affairs of this family are not meant to be shared with others."

"Kyon-chan means much more to us than just within the boundary of friendship!" Hunny declared, his gaze loosing a bit of its normal wide-eyed mannerisms. "She's like family to us as well! We care about Kyon-chan!"

"Hunny-senpai." Kyo stared at the blonde with a near slack jaw. His words stunned her, as well as the rest of her family.

Kira nodded his agreement to this as he added himself within the numbers of the Host Club. "I agree with them Ji-chan. Kyo's friends have a right to be here as well.

Hiroshi growled quietly in his throat before stiffly jerking his head in a rather unsavory nod. "Fine. Kyo-chan, Kira-kun; to the middle of the courtyard. Everyone else, remain back here along the steps."

**12:00am**

"It's simple. The time limit is thirty minutes, and first one to either force the other to forfeit or KO them shall be considered the victor. However, Kira-kun, if it appears at any time that you're going easy on Kyo-chan, I will declare the fight over and Kyo-chan will remain bound to the engagement." Hiroshi stated, arms folded across his chest and a rather serious look on his face. "If Kyo-chan is to be deemed able to be strong enough to protect herself, she must last the entire thirty minutes and she must defeat you as well."

A horribly twisted look of annoyance was scrawled tightly across the faces of near every member of the Host Club. None of them liked the fact that Kyo accepted this challenge, and the youngest three members were infuriated in response to the fact that they had been left in the dark by the club's older members concerning the real reason behind the animosity between the two cousins. Although Kyo maintained a placid look upon her face, the underlying rage that boiled just beneath the surface was apparent in the way her eyes retained none of the bright light source of the lit torches and pyres that ringed the front courtyard.

From his place across from her, Kira watched the increasingly irritated appearance twist further and further on Kyo's face as their grandfather explained the rules of this ditch effort to break an unfair engagement. Whether that irritation now burning through to frustration was towards those in her family, or towards the whole situation as a whole, Kira was unsure. But he was sure of the fact that it was only going to fuel Kyo's drive to beat the living hell out of him one way or another, because at that very moment she was being given the go-ahead to near out right attack him with excessive force.

"Now, do you both understand?" Hiroshi questioned, his gaze flickering from one grandchild to the next. A nod from Kira, and a stiff nod from Kyo came back to him. "Good. Fifty paces and then stop, I'll signal for you to bow and begin." He announced while turning sharply on his heel and marched towards the shrine where gathered family and Kyo's friends. By the time he turned back around, both Kira and Kyo had come to their fifty paces, turned, and now faced one another. "Bow!" Hiroshi barked, his voice cracking through the chill air like a whip.

Haruhi flinched, as did the twins. It bothered the three of them greatly as to how harsh Kyo's grandfather seemed to be acting, and all three briefly shot the elder of the family unhappy looks before returning their attention to a fight ready to explode before them.

Tamaki shivered beneath his jacket, both from the cold night air and from the utter dread of having to watch another fight. He had seen what both Kira and Kyo were capable of when they nearly tore each other apart on school grounds, but now that they were given permission to all but kill each other, Tamaki swallowed hard at the thoughts running through his mind. Each time he came back to the image of Kyo face first on the ground, blood mixing with snow and not a twitch of movement from her. _Kyo, please, __**please**__, don't kill yourself! This whole thing just isn't worth it! _A grimace contorted his handsome face now.

Biting down on his thumbnail, Hunny quivered beneath the tension filling the large courtyard. He didn't want to watch it again, the last fight had scared him, but he couldn't stay back at the onsen knowing the desperate situation Kyo was in now. It was either prove she could protect herself and show that she was far stronger than what her family thought, or marry her cousin and ensure the safety of her inheritance to the Uchiwa family wealth. It hurt Hunny's heart.

Setting a hand upon the shoulder of his blonde cousin, Mori kept his gaze forward, watching the two cousins distance themselves from one another as they had been instructed. This time, he wouldn't be able to run in and stop the fight before someone was badly injured or worse, and that bothered him badly. _Kyo-kun is a capable fighter from what I've seen. But her temper says otherwise about her control. _An unusual twinge of anger flickered over his normally placid and unmoving features. _She's exhausted. I can already see it._

Adjusting his glasses, Kyoya hid his own sense of annoyance and even disgust towards this stipulation. It was all very unfair for both Kyo and Kira alike. Neither one wanted to be forced into a marriage with the other, and neither wanted to trade blows to make sure that it didn't happen. Unfortunately, Kyoya was at a disadvantage this time, he couldn't interfere or it would mean an unpleasant future for Kyo. Gritting his teeth behind his lips, Kyoya narrowed his grey eyes wordlessly.

**12:03am**

Kira bowed quickly, his amber gaze burning holes into the cold stone beneath his feet. _I hate this, I hate this, I hate this! _Repeating it over and over as if it were a personal mantra, Kira happened to glance forward and caught sight of the horribly rigid and very ungraceful bow that Kyo had thrown herself forward into. _I don't blame you._

Coming up from their bow, they now stared one another down. Blue met amber, and the volatile tension that had been building now only thickened to the point that one could swear they were seeing electricity crackle along the vision line between the cousins. From the shrine, Hiroshi lifted his hand high above his head, his two sons, their wives, and his own wife stared with worried looks. Bringing his hand down in a sort of chop-like motion, Hiroshi felt the pit of his stomach twist. "GO!"

In an instant both young adults flew at one another, covering the distance between them in only seconds. A left hook was tossed from Kira while Kyo planted her left foot down hard on to the stone and swept up her right leg high. Kira grabbed her ankle, Kyo grabbed his wrist. As if timing their attacks in perfect harmony with one another, they blocked and went to twist the other out from under their sense of balance. Both went sideways in opposite direction, grabbing a new stance before whipping about to try another quick shot on the other.

For a good thirty seconds they dodged and blocked punches and kicks, exhibiting an extreme amount of speed and control that had gone far beyond what was expected of them. That was only a test, because after separating and taking two seconds to breathe, they charged again. Kira spun out a roundhouse kick as he looked to catch Kyo in the face, but missed as the younger teen ducked low and slid out beneath his kick. Standing up behind him, Kyo set a hand to his spine and began following his attempts to turn about and face her.

"Hiroshi, did you teach her that?" Fuu asked, stunned that her granddaughter had fallen into what was general tactic for a Ba Gua practitioner.

Shaking his head, Hiroshi watched with the same sort of shock as his wife. _Circle walking _was not one of the martial art forms that he had taught Kyo and her other cousins. In fact, he didn't even know how to use that form at all.

"Dammit Kyo! How the hell are you doing that?!" Kira snapped as he continued to make his turn about to catch her with a right hook, but it was now becoming increasingly frustrating to do so. Kyo had set herself in his blind spot, and her constant moving about with him in a circle, had put Kira at a huge disadvantage.

"Say hello to Ba Gua!" Kyo huffed before ducking down as Kira attempted one last try for her and swept out her foot, hooking his ankles and sending him into a fall. Spinning about to push herself up through the use of inertia, Kyo twisted her body and drove down her left fist in arc that connected with the middle of Kira's chest. Using the momentum of his fall and her own physical power, Kyo slammed her cousin into the stone ground, knocking the wind out of him as she did so.

Coughing out a harsh choke, Kira gasped for a breath as he was unable to actually breathe for a good few seconds. The copper tang of blood entered his mouth. Regaining his breath as Kyo pulled her hand back, Kira grabbed her retreating wrist and clamped down hard as he pulled her back to him. Planting his foot in her abdomen with one kick, sending a shock wave through her, he continued to pull on her wrist as he pushed himself into a backwards roll. Lifting Kyo up off her feet and flinging her behind him rather quickly, Kira followed through and was back up on his feet in time to watch Kyo hit the ground and slid along her ribs.

Wiping his mouth with a quick swipe from the back of his hand, Kira stared at the crimson stain smeared along his skin. _Damn, she hit me pretty hard._ He glanced towards his cousin as she pushed herself up into a half crouched position, blue eyes burning mad as she glared. Smirking, he egged her on, pushing for her to loose her temper all together. "Giving up already, _**boumei**_?" Kyo's face contorted into a snarl. _Good, get angry Kyo, it's the only way you'll ever push yourself to beat the shit out of me this time_.

Grunting, Kyo lunged forward, her push propelling her quickly across the courtyard towards Kira with right fist pulled back at her side. Following her lead, Kira pulled his own right fist back as he ran for her. Meeting halfway, they pushed forward with their punches, catching one another with their free left hand and thus began the struggle for dominance in power. Kira pushed and Kyo pushed back. Neither side was willing to back down.

It would be Kyo who would sacrifice her own defense as she released Kira's fist, allowing her left shoulder to take the released hit. Sneering at the blow, Kyo bit back the cry of pain building up through her throat and pulled her body back in one quick jerk in order to spring forward with her free left hand that was now curled tightly in a compacted fist. The blow connected with Kira's face, smashing his nose beneath a heavy punch that promised enough force to possibly break a concrete block.

Reeling backwards from the blow, Kira grasped at his now bleeding nose, the cartilage feeling as though it had been broken. Unfortunately for Kira, Kyo was not going to wait and revel in her strike as she struck out at him with a series of quick jabs with a long fist. However, as each blow struck Kira in the ribs, he managed to move into a place where he could counter, but found that Kyo had already anticipated this and spun her body around to face him like a left handed batter would and struck another series of long fist jabs. Pushing Kira backwards, Kyo ducked down and then stood up in a twisting motion, the open flat palm of her right hand leading the way as it caught Kira under the chin with a nasty blow.

The twenty-two year old collage student stumbled backwards, blood now pooling inside his mouth after he accidentally bit his cheek during that strike. _Dammit! Where did she learn to do that?!_ "Abandoning grandpa's techniques?!" He hissed while regaining his footing and pulling his body up into a ready stance.

"Better I do that then have you dodge moves you can read. Besides, why would I use someone else's techniques who would rather see me remain a weak coward for the rest of my life?!" Kyo snarled, a shadow falling over the upper half of her face as she tilted her chin further down towards her chest. Lifting her hands up, straight and turned sideways, Kyo slid her left foot back as she brought her hands in with churning motion that her body twisted through. Pushing off with her right foot, kicking herself up off the ground for a mere second as she turned, Kyo swept out her left leg in a hook aimed at Kira's temple.

Lucky for Kira, he happened to be rather good at reading body movements and positioning, but even Kyo's newfound style of martial arts was throwing him off and he had just a few sparse seconds to get his right arm up to guard. Unbelievably, the force behind Kyo's kick held far more power that what the performance of her moves suggested. The bone of his forearm cracked under the hit, and a pain unlike anything else he had experienced shot through his whole arm. It was if fire dug beneath his skin and crawled through his veins. The intensity of the pain was enough to send Kira to his knees immediately at the same time a cry unfurled from his lips.

"Kira!" Michiru jerked forward in response to her son's pained cries, but was stopped from doing anything further as Hatori grabbed her by the arm. Her wide gaze stared back at him with a frustrated look that only a mother could harbor in response her child's pain.

Hatori shook his head. "You can't, Michiru. If you go out there, you'll either get hurt or they'll both hurt themselves in order to keep you from being hit." He answered the pleading look on her face. "Umi-san is having to bear the same torment, Dear. Remember that."

Michiru bit the bottom of her lip as she looked away from her husband, eyes closing to the world as she tried to block out those sickening sounds of punches and kicks making contact on flesh. She ached not only for her son, but also for Kyo as she screamed finally in response to a rather serious blow. It was a mix of frustration and agonizing pain, and it made Michiru flinch horribly.

**12:15am (current time)**

The half way point had been reached. With fifteen minutes left to regain her freedom.

"KANO YAROU!"

"BOUMEI!"

Fist connected with the side of a face, both strikes hitting their intended targets. Both Uchiwa inhaled sharply in response to the sting they inflicted upon one another as they teetered, bodies heavy with fatigue and bruising. Neither one was going to go down before the other. They were too stubborn. Too proud. And too arrogant. An unfortunate trait that had been passed down from generation to generation in the Uchiwa family. Both a blessing and a curse.

However, the body knew when it was at its extreme limits, and as they tried to follow through with their punch they both began the quick descent backwards towards the flagstone paved ground. The frozen stone was unforgiving, and the harsh pop of two backs hitting almost simultaneously echoed deafly through the courtyard.

The Host Club cringed. Haruhi grabbed a hold of the closest arm to her and buried her face into the chill material of a jacket sleeve as she cried out. There was a mirror look that held place on the faces of each boy while an empty twisted feeling bottomed out their stomachs. It was absolutely horrible to stand there and watch.

Kira moved first, shifting the manner in which his left arm rested at his side, wincing as his movements jerked the broken right arm. Pushing himself up slowly, one eye closed as he winced and bit down on the pain that threatened to have him squeak out a cry, Kira hissed in response to seeing Kyo still laying on her back. _She has to get up! If she doesn't...then this was a complete waste and her injuries will mean nothing! _

The night sky was incredibly clear, the black looking more like the dark blue everyone said it really was with the twinkling lights of the stars winking in and out overhead like spilled craft glitter on a piece of construction paper. She had done that one time back when she was seven, and had begged her mother endlessly for craft supplied so she could make a birthday card for her dad. It had been a rather expensive little jar of silver glitter, and without realizing what had happened, she had tipped it over. The birthday card had come out just the way she wanted it, but for the next three days she pranced about the house shimmering like a little pixie.

Simpler times back then, but that's what the night sky reminded her of at the moment. Birthday cards, glitter; a rather silly way of commenting on the night sky.

"TEN MINUTES!"

The wind suddenly kicked up, bending the looming pines that surrounded the shrine and sending out their ominous creaking groans as it passed through. The cold bit at her nose, which she quickly wriggled to fight away that nipping chill. _Wasn't there some sort of saying about that somewhere? 'Jack Frost nipping at your nose'? Why would anyone, let alone a winter figurehead, nip at someone's nose? I thought only pets did that. Why not, 'Kissing your nose'? That sounds better doesn't it?_ Kyo grimaced as she moved her body about, slowly pushing herself up into a slumped over sitting position. "Jack Frost kissing your nose. Yeah, that sounds a whole lot better." She murmured quietly to herself, eye moving with her head to look out from beneath her bangs toward Kira.

"Heh, I thought you were going to give up." Kira called out, a smirk trying to play at his mouth but barely visible as cringe of pain overtook him.

"You wish." Kyo called back in response as she shifted her right leg so that it bent beneath her, hands planting firmly on either thigh as she looked to shove herself up on her feet.

Kira followed suit, but in a manner that accommodated for his broken arm. "No, not really." He spoke under his breath as he pulled his body into another half-forced stance.

Sliding her left foot back behind her as she stood up, Kyo bent her right knee while bringing her hands before her in one last hold. Both of them were feeling the give on their bodies, knees barely able to lock and hold still while their ribs throbbed along with what seemed like every inch of their frame. The seconds ticked by, eating away the remaining sparse minutes they had. It had finally come to this. One last attack, one last chance. Both Kira and Kyo were ready.

Without the slightest call or physical gesture in forewarning or signal to their move, the two cousins broke forward, crossing the gap between them in only two seconds. Kyo jumped in her second to last step, body beginning to twist in a clockwise motion as she crouched with arms lifting parallel to her shoulder with palms turned facing out. Without even knowing her movements, Kira held his good arm tucked in at his side with fist clenched tightly before he too crouched at the middle of his run and drilling his fist into the ground to launch himself up in a turn that seemed to mimic Kyo's own movements. Except, Kira extended out his right leg out in an arc that came down for the top of Kyo's head.

In a collision bigger than the one that knocked them both to the ground, Kyo struck Kira twice; once in the middle of his chest and once coming up under his chin. Kira struck Kyo once; his missile of a kick striking her right across the back of her left shoulder. They poured every last ounce of strength into their final attacks, the loud _**thwack**_ the connecting blows churning even grandpa Hiroshi's stomach as he watched his grandchildren collapse immediately into opposite directions from one another.

Glancing down at his watch, Hiroshi noted that there was only five seconds left, and then... "Time." He nearly whispered out the call. But it was loud enough to send Haruhi out running towards Kyo faster than anyone had been capable of blinking.

"Kyo!" Haruhi nearly hit the ground in a slid as she approached. Kyo's back was turned to her in a twisted side-laying manner that had the younger girl freaking out in complete panic. God only knew how bad it was, and it had Haruhi terrified to even touch her as she came around to look at her from the front. She didn't even notice the painful bite as her knees struck the frozen stone, all her attention was focused on the still form of her friend. "Kyo! Kyo, can you hear me?!"

The blue of Kyo's eyes was scarce as her eyes were just millimeters from being closed, but it didn't take a closer look to see that her eyes were near void of any sign of life. This only provoked Haruhi's panic as she set a hand on Kyo's shoulder carefully since it was the same shoulder she had watched Kira possibly break. Other voices called out, but they sounded distant to Kyo's ears as she slowly faded into a state of unconsciousness. Even Haruhi's teary-eyed face was blurring out and fading.

"Kyo-senpai!" The twins shouted in unison as they rushed in, their own faces finally contorted with pure worry and terror for Kyo's well-being. They were quickly outran by Uchiwa Umi, who darted for her daughter.

Everyone was divided between the two teens, crossing back and forth in their fear that they were in need of hospital care. However, while he too was overcome by the gut-wrenching sickness of worry, Uchiwa Hiroshi remained where he was and watched. He had sen a few of their fights before, heard about the injuries they inflicted upon one another, but he had no idea they would push themselves this far. _They were that desperate_.

"Call the doctor!"

**12:45 am**

"They'll both be fine."

The doctor was somewhere in his fifties. Dark intelligent eyes behind wire rimmed glasses and hair that was beginning to grey at the temples. He closed moved further forward into the main sitting room, his hands clutching the hard handle of his medical bag. He could see the ceaseless looks of utter worry in the faces of the rather large group of family and friends before him.

"I would advise that neither of them start moving around too quickly if they wake up tomorrow. Keep them in bed for a couple of days, and then they'll at least be ready to head home." He explained softly, assuring them all that they had nothing to worry about any longer. Neither Kyo nor Kira were in a life-threatening situation. "I would also like to suggest that neither one of them never fight it out like that again."

Fuu shot a seething glare at her husband who had yet even say one word since the end of the ridiculous fight he had constructed. The sharp looks coming from both Ichigo and Hatori were nearly matching the intensity of their mothers'.

Michiru stood to her feet and bowed incredibly low before the doctor, hands clasped tightly before her lap to the point her knuckles were turning white. "Thank you so much doctor."

Merely nodding, the doctor excused himself and was seen out by Ichigo.

Haruhi looked over towards Kyo's mother, her brow furrowing slightly as she pondered if it was okay to ask the question lingering on the tip of her tongue. However, Umi seemed to sense the collective wondering that seemed to be bubbling about the teens. Turning her attention to them, she forced a smile and nodded. "You may go see Kyo if you want."

Without a single word, they all bowed quickly before scrambling to their feet and shot through the doors of the main sitting room, leaving the adults to linger in brooding silence until Ichigo returned. As soon as the doors closed behind him, Umi and Michiru rounded on their father-in-law with the ferocity only seen in mother's pissed off to no end in response to the pain and suffering their children were put through.

"What is wrong with you?!" Michiru snarled angrily, her green eyes narrowing dangerously on Hiroshi. "How could you make them do that to one another?!"

"O-tosan, that was incredibly cruel! Kyo and Kira didn't deserve that!" Umi exploded as well, her tone and outward body language syncing up with Michiru's. "There were other ways to handle this! That engagement wasn't even solidified!"

Hiroshi remained quiet, arms folded across his chest as he sat cross-legged upon the tatami mat covered floor. He listened to the angry outbursts of his daughters, never once interrupting or making a face in response. Instead he sat there and allowed them to yell, waiting for them to fully vent their anger. Fuu sat off to the side still, her unholy look never once changing since she first threw it at him. The disdain from his sons poured over him as well, mixing in with the anger of their wives.

"Oyaji." Ichigo spoke up first after his wife finished her rant. His expression was undeniably within the range of fury, but yet he maintained a controlled level on his tone of voice. "What were you thinking?"

He shifted slightly in his seat, arms moving down in their position across his chest. "I...I needed to know. I wanted to see for myself just what Kyo was capable of." There was a slight quiver in his voice that his youngest son, Hatori, picked up on almost immediately. "I love both her and Kira with all my heart, as I do all my grandchildren, but I needed to know. I had to make sure they were ready." His arms dropped from their crossed position over his chest, hands gripping the fabric of his pants. "Kyo, her temper is dangerous, but Kira can reign her in. I saw it tonight. The engagement will never be followed through on, ever. I just wanted to make sure."

Ichigo stared at his father, almost dumbfounded and shocked, his own feelings becoming a jumbled mess as he notice the tears that had started to sporadically fall and strike Hiroshi's trousers.

"Dear." Fuu's look disappeared as she watched her husband's shoulders begin to shake.

Michiru and Umi exchanged looks with one another. Somehow they understood.

**1:45am**

Although Kyo had beaten Kira in the end and saved herself from an arranged marriage, it had also cost her physically as she had collapsed due to the combination of the beating she had received, her sensitivity to the winter weather, and the already tired state she had been in after having helped out around the onsen that same day. But a bitter sigh of relief escaped her friends once they had her back inside the Inn and set up in the room she was sharing with Haruhi. White bandages were wrapped up either arm and hand, the left sporting a longer one than the right, and was even wrapped about the circumference of her head to cover the gash on her left temple.

There were a few smaller bandages taped down on her cheek, chin, forehead, and even one right across the bridge of her nose. Kyo sported a black eye, busted lip, and beneath her blankets and pajamas, her ribs were taped up as well. It had been a far worse fight than what the Host Club had expected to see, and it caused a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs just thinking about it. Whether or not they agreed with the ultimatum that Kyo's grandfather had set up or not, they were thankful that the whole mess was done and over with.

"At least she's sleeping." Kyoya murmured while looking over the battered body of his friend with slight frown pulling down on his mouth. "It's better than being unconscious."

"Yeah." Tamaki agreed aloud, although he more or less muttered it while he sat cross-legged and hunched over at Kyo's side. "Kyo-chan, I hope you're going to be okay after this." He murmured quietly while reaching out and stroking the top of her right hand wrapped up to cover cuts and bruises.

Hikaru and Kaoru glanced up at Tamaki, and then looked at one another as if communicating with one another in secret before voicing their own thoughts. It was Hikaru who spoke up first. "Oi, dono, why don't we all stay with Kyo-senpai tonight?" He gestured a nod towards the other members of the Host Club who were just as worried over Kyo's condition.

Glancing up at the Hitachiin who normally gave him the worse headaches than anyone else could, Tamaki held a thoughtful look on his face as he seemed to agree with the idea. Looking over at Kyoya, he received an agreeing nod, and the same came from Haruhi, Hunny, and Mori as well. Grinning a bit, he nodded as well. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea Hikaru-kun."

**10:45am**

The murmured sounds of birds chirping and fluttering about in the back bonsai gardens drifted in to the room alongside the thin pale yellow shafts of morning sunlight. The warmth from the winter sun struck the still sleeping Kyo right in the face, causing her brows to squirm a bit in rhythm with her mouth as even in her sleep she found it difficult to stand the light right there. Slowly, she awoke, eyes peeking open a bit at first to squint against the direct light.

Her right arm moved to come up and shield her gaze, but even as she moved it slowly, her body reacted with a bitter shot of pain that twinged her senses and had her flinching. Biting back any sound that tried to crawl up out of her throat, Kyo waited a moment before she tried again, this time succeeding in getting her arm up to utilize her hand as a sun shield of sorts.

"You're awake."

Kyo looked off to her left as she recognized the voice. It was hard not to mistake it, as much as the two of them would prefer to trick everyone else with the casual switcharoo. But even after nearly half a year, Kyo had become proficient enough to tell them apart as easily as Haruhi was capable of doing. "Kaoru?"

The younger twin nodded as he sat up from his reclined position on the other side of the room, discarding the magazine he had been flipping through to pass the time. "We were worried about you last night, so we all stayed with you." He indicated to the fact that the others had been there as well. "You should have seen what you looked like afterwards. I thought you were dead for sure." Kaoru's brow creased slightly as he sat cross-legged, hands sticking straight down in his lap, his presentation making him look exactly like a little kid trying to scold his friend for jumping off the swings.

"I don't think I wanna know what I looked like." Kyo muttered while closing her eyes and turning her head back to its original position so that she could stare up at the ceiling. "Do you know how Kira is?"

"Same as you." Kaoru replied while glancing off at the door briefly. "Tamaki and them were worried about him too. I think Hikaru and Haruhi were worried as well." He mused while trying to recall if he had actually picked up on that wavelength or not the other night.

Kyo nodded or at least tried to without jarring her body too much. "It's quiet. Where is everyone?"

"Breakfast still probably." Kaoru shrugged while slumping a bit in his posture. "They left about a half hour ago I think."

Her brow lifted as she turned her head to look at him again. "And you didn't go?" A shake from his ginger head had her even more curious now. "Why not?"

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on you." Kaoru smirked slightly. "Tamaki wanted to stay, but I forced him out the door with Haruhi's help."

"Hm." Kyo was starting to find it rather annoying as to how she was having to look at Kaoru, and although she knew it was wiser just to stay the way she was, Kyo was of course the single most stubborn member of the Host Club aside from Hikaru. Without even really putting much thought into it, Kyo pushed herself up into a sitting position, her whole body quivering in response while her ribs shouted at her stupidity and socked her gut with a rather unpleasant wrenching of pain. "Itai!" She sucked in a sharp breath, arm wrapping about her ribs.

"Kyo!" Kaoru nearly scrambled over himself to get to her side, a look of both concern for her cry and annoyance towards her stupidity. "You shouldn't be moving. The doctor said you needed to rest a few days."

Kyo scoffed the best she could. "Right." She tried to snicker, but the best she got out was a rather weak grin as she looked over at Kaoru. "Since when did you become such a mother-hen over me?"

"Since you started acting like an idiot." Kaoru retorted, his tone of voice trying to mask the sudden embarrassment he encountered with that comment. "It's better than Tamaki-senpai flailing about hysterically, unless you enjoy his over dramatizations."

"I guess you got a point." Kyo exhaled a sigh as she could just picture Tamaki nearly having a heart attack even if she sneezed at this point. _He's worse than my dad._ Her face pulled into a blank fault.

Kaoru sat down on his knees beside Kyo, his shoulder just starting to brush against her own, but he was careful. The last thing he wanted was to send her to the ground because he bumped something that was a sore point from the other night. "You scared me last night." Kaoru murmured quietly, his gaze focused on the ground before him. "I really thought you were going to kill Kira-san. But when when the two you hit the ground for the last time, I was afraid you weren't going to get back up."

Kyo stared at him with a rather wide gaze, but remained quiet as he spoke. The look he was trying to hide on his face, she smacked herself in the face mentally as she looked towards the window before her on the end wall. "I'm sorry."

"Well you should be!" Kaoru shot her a rather quick glare. "Because if something happened to you, how would we finish our _war_?" He avoided saying anything else that would matter in the conversation, siding with the stupid remarks that could possibly put him on hostile ground with her.

"Yeah, well, again, forgive me." Kyo's face pulled a rather sour expression.

Kaoru huffed quietly as he crossed his arms and looked off elsewhere to turn his back to her in some way. Kyo looked back towards the window, her sour look still present. There was silence for a moment before Kaoru dared to even ask the question that had been nagging at him since he heard about it. "So, that engagement they put you in with Kira-san...is it broken now?"

"Beats me. I think we KO'd each other, so I don't know if that counts or not." Kyo moved her shoulders as if to shrug, but reminded herself it was best to keep from unnecessary movements. "Either way, I'm not going along with it if they decide to keep it instilled."

Kaoru remained kept quiet a moment before he looked back over his shoulder slowly at Kyo. "What are you going to do then?"

"If it comes down to it, I'll run away. Maybe at that point I'll be older, and maybe I'll have someone to run away with." Kyo replied, her eyes focusing on the window with a much stronger gaze.

He stared at her for a moment, his body shifting so that he could face her completely. "Kyo-senpai." Her gaze shifted enough to stare at him from the corner of her eye. "If that happens, I'd...I'd run away with you."

Kyo stared at him, her face turning as her brows moved to crease a puzzled look. "What?"

A rather furious blush ambushed Kaoru and burned the top of his cheeks a bright red even as he looked down off to his right. "If you run away, I'll run away with you." He repeated, a little bit louder so that way he was sure she could hear him.

For a moment, Kyo was unable to grasp what he meant by that. _He'd run away with me? Why would he...do that...? _The puzzled look shifted into a sense of realization as it finally clicked. She blinked a few times, taking note of the burning shade of red that scrawled across his face. A rather unusual smile appeared on her lips as she looked back to the window again. Before she said anything, Kyo reached out with her left arm, the one covered in more bandages than the other, and caught Kaoru quickly about his shoulders to pull him in towards her.

Caught off-guard, Kaoru fell forward but somehow managed to combine a panicking sense of self-balance to bump into the front of her shoulder as he stuck his arms with palms flat to brace himself using the mat of Kyo's bed and the floor at the same time. Kyo wrapped her injured arm a bit more firmly about him, pulling him into a rather odd sort of hug that he didn't even fight against. The side of her head came down and rested on top of his head, mixing strands of ginger and black in a haphazard manner.

Kaoru's body had sense gone completely still with the lack of response to a gesture that literally blurred the line of just friendship and the sudo sibling-like relationship that had developed between them. It was weird, being held like that. Had he ever been that close to her before, even in just a _"getting back at you" _kind of deal? No, he was pretty sure it was Hikaru who was usually nabbed on that end. Kaoru suddenly relaxed and allowed himself to lean carefully into her, arms coming up from their locked bracing position to hug her back around taped ribs he was careful not to hold too tightly.

"Thank you, Kaoru."


	30. On Towards The Holidays

**Author Note: **Holy hell! I cannot believe it took me this long to get the next chapter up, gah! Well, I am sorry to have kept you all waiting so long, so here you go! Now, I know that the end of this chapter will possibly have many of you ready to direct all sorts of various physical pain upon me, but please remember that this is my story, my playtime with the characters of Ouran High Host Club and the setting provided by Bisco Hatori in all her wonderfulness! Also, remember that the story isn't over yet so anything from this point on can still happen. Enjoy!

* * *

_**Chapter Thirty**_

_**On Towards The Holidays**_

"I'm not going to tell you again; now sit still!"

Uchiwa Kyo muttered something under her breath that sounded rather foreign to Hitachiin Hiakru's ears, but the ginger-headed boy dismissed it without another thought as he had become rather accustomed to the fact that Kyo often said things under her breath in what he came to realize was English. While for the moment she seemed complacent enough to listen to _him_ for once, Hikaru resumed his task of fixing Kyo's hair as was commissioned by Kyoya at what seemed like the last minute of all things.

Running his hands through her dark hair in a backwards motion to give her a rather slicked back look, Hikaru left a few of the longer pieces of her bangs hanging forward over her eyes. Grinning as he stepped back to admire his work, Hikaru gave Kyo a thumbs up. "Now you really do look like a pool shark Kyo-senpai."

"I'm absolutely thrilled beyond anything right now. Truly I am." Kyo rolled her eyes while pushing herself up off the chair she had been commanded to sit down on nearly a half hour ago by Kyoya. Her movements were a slower than what she usually seemed to display, thanks in part to still sore limbs and bruised ribs that weren't entirely healed yet. Wincing slightly as she stood to her feet, Kyo stepped off towards the large twelve foot mirror that hung on the dressing room wall framed out with ornate gold molding.

For the events of that night, an off-campus Host Club party to celebrate the start of the upcoming winter holidays, the theme tone had been set up for a rather swanky resort sort of luxury hotel feel (or at least that was as close to a description as Kyo was going to come around to at this point). Each _host_ was dubbed with a separate theme of their own; Kyo of course being one of two pool sharks that night alongside Tamaki. Her attire called for a rather tailored and crisp looking white suit with a matching vest beneath sitting over a charcoal dress shirt and finished off with a dark crimson tie. With her hair now slicked back thanks to Hikaru's help, Kyo held a rather attractive male appearance that was rather classy. No doubt her _customers_ were going to swoon.

"Our mother made this specifically for you." Hikaru pipped up while also popping up at her side to look at her reflection in the mirror. "She said after meeting you at the onsen, that she decided white looked the best on you. Why she made a suit, I don't know. But lucky she did, neh?" He snickered while patting Kyo on the back of her shoulder.

"I guess." Kyo sighed while adjusting the long coat that hit about four inches passed the waistline. "I didn't even know I had a color."

Hikaru shrugged. "Everyone does apparently, or at least according to my mother." He nodded what seemed like his approval to Kyo's overall look. "Although I'm torn between whether or not I like your hair slicked back or not." Hikaru set a hand to his brow in an exasperated manner as he tried to get a smile out of the older student he had taken a great liking to in his own way.

"I kind of like it like this. Although, somehow I'm beginning to think that a different hair color would make it look even better." Kyo pointed out while flicking one of the pieces Hikaru had purposefully left hovering over her eye. A faint smirk tugging at her lips at the thought of deep cherry red entered her mind.

The smirk was enough for Hikaru as he turned away from the mirror and strode quickly towards the dressing room door. "Finish whatever else you need to do on your own. Kyoya-senpai wants us out in main banquet hall by seven exactly." He called back over his shoulder before disappearing out the door.

With the faint click of the door closing, Kyo exhaled a small content sigh as she looked herself over in the mirror. She looked incredibly sharp thanks to the work of mother Hitachiin's abilities with design and her son's obvious talent to turn out a rather impressive hairstyle on a dime. Listing her arms out level with her shoulders in order to get a better look at the detail on her jacket, Kyo immediately sucked in a sharp breath as a jolt of lightning seemed to cut through her body starting at those taped ribs.

Things hadn't gone exactly as they had been planned for the trip up to the onsen her grandparents ran in the Nara Prefecture. While Kyo had intended it be a sort of girls get away with Haruhi, hoping that they could learn more about each other and just get away from the seven boys who constantly revolved about their lives in school and outside of it, it instead became a huge family dispute over something Kyo had no clue about until then and there. She was still angry at the fact that her parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle had tried to dictate the future of her adult life with an arranged marriage to her own cousin. The shooting pain running its course through her system only a bitter reminder of what she and Kira had done to one another in order to make their point.

Both had been willing to do anything and everything to get the hell out of that arrangement.

The last few days spent at the onsen had been like a sort prison lock down for Kyo as her friends absolutely refused to let her leave the room, insisting that for once she listened to what she was told and do it. Tamaki had the most firm on this matter as his growing relationship with Kyo had finally come to show off the overly protective big-brother nature he held toward her. The normally easy pushover of a blonde had put his foot down and would not bend beneath her threats and death glares. And for that, Kyo found a whole new appreciate and respect for Tamaki. For the better part of two days Kyo was confined to her room, her friends keeping her company in what seemed like rotating shifts with Kaoru normally taking more time out his day to stay with her.

By the last day, Kyo had finally been allowed out of her room for more than just an hour which was normally used to visit the hot springs. Her eldest cousin Sho had come to take her out for a private talk between the two of them that was of course spied upon by Hikaru and Kaoru at the behest of the rest of the Host Club. Departure was rather...difficult. Kyo refused to speak with anyone aside from her cousins, and left with her friends rather than with her family. For the most part her parents agreed that it would best to further allow their daughter as much space as possible for the time being, but only after Ichigo threatened pain upon death to Tamaki should anything happen to his beloved little girl on the trip back home.

Folding her arms over her ribs, Kyo winced at the pain and made her way back over to the chair she had gotten up from. Easing herself down into the plush velvet arms of the chair, Kyo sat back and set a hand to her forehead. _Winter sucks._ She grumbled mentally at the snow she knew was falling at that moment outside the massive plaza that Kyoya's family owned and was being used to facilitate this heraldic like event to the upcoming holidays. Kyo absolutely detested the fact that she was going to have to entertain _customers_ while all the while hiding still tender injuries and fighting off her "allergy" to the cold weather. _Oh I only hope my acting is as good as I think it is._

A knock came at the door of the dressing rooms followed by a soft call right after. "Kyo-senpai?"

"Yeah?" Kyo forced herself to sound as cheerful as she could through a final twist of pain as she stood up from her seat, a smile pushing its way across her lips in an unnatural manner.

The door opened just enough for th brunette head of Haruhi to stick through the small space and peek into the room. "Are you ready? I saw Hikaru come out a little while ago."

"Oh, yeah I'm ready. I was just resting a moment." Kyo grinned while coming to the door as Haruhi pushed it open further. "So what's Kyoya got you themed as tonight?" She laughed lightly while stepping out of the dressing room and eying the rather attention catching deep red, white, and black apparel that Haruhi was wearing.

Haruhi shrugged. "I think he said something about being a high roller, but then again I wasn't really listening."

Kyo stared at her friend with a rather dumbstruck expression as they headed towards the main banquet hall where already a good hundred or more guests were residing within. The muffled sounds of music snaked through the air, reaching out into the hallway that the two girls walked through. A rather snickering grin pulled its way out across Kyo's mouth as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her pressed slacks. "When have we ever?"

The doors to the main banquet hall were wide open, welcoming all into the brightly lit and dazzling room that was alive with mixed chatter and laughing. Students from Ouran, both male and female, mingled with one another. Talk of where holidays were going to be spent, who was leaving the country and for how long, what they had been doing thus far during the break, who was seeing who, and for the girls – who was looking forward to getting caught beneath the miseltoe with their dream guy.

They entered the festivities with a persona that fit their respected themes; Kyo radiating a rather cocky bastard like smugness as _he_ held his head high and surveyed the room, Haruhi holding a placid look to _his_ face while keeping to Kyo's side for that sort of playing off the other effect. It worked perfectly. Attention was turned them almost immediately as those closest to the entry way beamed with excitement to their arrival. Several girls quickly flocked their way, calling out hurried greetings and complementing their appearance that night.

"Kyo-senpai, you look so handsome! You should wear your hair slicked back more often." A hazel-eyed blonde purred while coming up to the unoccupied side of the Second year and setting a flirtatious hand upon his upper arm. "It gives you an absolutely devilish appeal."

Kyo looked to her with that said devilish air, the smirk testing the right corner of his mouth. "Thank you, my dear princess. Your words are too kind for this evening." With that said, Kyo lifted the girl's hand from his arm, bringing it to his lips he set a very airy kiss upon her knuckles. "Careful you don't embarrass me too much, or I should surely turn the shade as my tie." A flirting wink, and the blonde was captivated.

Haruhi chuckled quietly how quickly Kyo could turn on the boyish charm and have a girl swooning. _I wonder if she could have the same effect on a guy if she tried?_ Those thoughts were quickly set elsewhere as a tug upon his arm brought attention upon a blushing redhead whom had come to his side. "Good evening my lady." He greeted while bowing his head in respectful tip.

"G-Good evening, Haruhi-kun." The redhead returned while offering up a shy smile. "I was wondering, if you weren't to busy later on, if you would dance with me?" She stared at the brunette clad in deep red and black, a sense of hopeful wonder in her eyes.

Stepping aside and taking the girls hand as Kyo had to his own dazzled fan, Haruhi bowed. "I would be honored my lady."

"Oh yeah, they're good." Hikaru mused while watching the two girls pretend for the other girls that gathered about them. He stood with his twin brother up on the rising semi-circle stairs that led up to an open balcony and its branching open walkways following the body of the room.

"No kidding. Kyo-senpai's got a blonde stuck to her side like glue." Kaoru eyed the spoken of girl, feeling a slight rise of jealousy plucking at his nerves in hinting gesture.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Kyo winds up beating Tamaki out for asked dances tonight." Kyoya's smooth voice cut into the conversation, his own gaze watching as the two girls worked their through the hall, stopping when the crowds of potential _customers_ became a bit too much for further advancement. "Haruhi might be a close second." A smirk worked its away out from the corner of his mouth. "Who would have thought that two girls cross-dressing held so much more attraction than actual guys."

"They should be dressed up like the other girls." Tamaki muttered while standing off to the side with Hunny and Mori, arms crossed over his chest in a stubborn manner as he watched Kyo and Haruhi approach the stairs.

Hunny glanced up at the taller blonde and giggled. "But if they were dressed up like the other girls than the boys would be swarming them. I don't think you'd like that either Tama-chan." He grinned.

A furious shade of red crept its way across Tamaki's face as he forced himself to stare at the ground. Hunny had a point, and unfortunately, Tamaki had to agree with this. If the girls could generate that much buzz as _boys_, he could only imagine what would happen if they were truly dressed up in dresses and waltzing their way through the hall. He shuddered visibly at the thought.

"Heh, who knew we were that popular." Kyo's voice spoke up from somewhere just below the boys as she walked up the steps with Haruhi following behind her. "I didn't think we'd ever make it over here!"

Haruhi merely nodded in agreement to this while glancing back over her shoulder to catch sight of still star struck girls staring after them. Offering a weak smile to them all before reaching the rest of the Host Club. "I think your popularity has sky-rocketed Kyo-senpai." Haruhi chuckled while also nodding at the suit she was currently wearing.

"Ha! How I wish!" Kyo exclaimed in an over exaggerated manner while twirling in a small spin up the final step, bringing herself right before the twins, to whom she bowed to in a rather graceful manner. "Evening gents!"

"Should you really be twirling about like that?" Kaoru's brow furrowed as he meant to note the fact that he knew Kyo was still recovering from her battle wounds. Although he was showing common concern to her well being with his remark, it earned him a rather odd look from Kyo who popped up before him in a bit of lean forward manner.

Kyo tilted her head to the left a bit and offered Kaoru a small flirtatious smirk that tugged out the right corner of her mouth. "I probably shouldn't even be here in the first place since I'm detained to the injured list, but yet here I am! Besides, what's the harm in showing off a bit to garner more _customers_ in order to finish paying off my debt to the club?" She grinned in closing.

Kaoru opened his mouth to respond but decided better of it and quickly snapped it shut, allowing only a faint rosy blush to travel across his cheeks.

Hikaru lifted an unamused brow. "Liar." His tone of voice was as flat as day old soda while he shot the blue-eyed girl a rather even glare. "You're probably in a lot of pain right now. You almost hurt yourself getting out of that chair when I finished with your hair."

The distinct and well known retaliation glare from Kyo leveled upon the older twin. "So what's your point?"

"My point?" Hikaru's brow furrowed as he sarcastically mocked her question. "My point is that you need to seriously take it easy tonight. Even though the rest of the student body that's present here doesn't know about what happened to you, don't give the reason to start snooping around to find out why you're injured in the first place!" He snapped, the hair of the back of his neck now possibly bristling akin to that of an irritated dog.

"I already thought up a rather logical explanation for my injuries if anyone asks, thanks." Kyo hissed back while narrowing her eyes at Hikaru's attitude towards her.

"Well excuse me for being worried about you!" Hikaru shot back as he and Kyo now mimicked one another's narrow-eyed glares, the tension between them almost visible by the fine sparks of electricity shooting across the small space that separated one from the other.

"Fine! I will! You're excused!"

Kaoru exhaled a rather defeated sigh while smacking his own forehead. There would never be a civil conversation between the two that lasted more than a few minutes. It was just in their nature to butt heads over everything and anything, and somehow that just seemed rather natural for them. In fact, Kaoru smiled a little as he watched his brother Kyo continue their argument, _I think they actually like arguing with one another._

"All right, enough you two. Save it for later please." Kyoya clapped his hands twice as he then pushed the two away from another and set himself at the middle like some sort of barrier that neither one dared to try and get around. "We have guests to greet and attended to. Let's properly start the event."

With that said, Tamaki took his place at the forefront at the open center of the twin staircases leading towards the second floor balcony. Holding his arms aloft in a rather elegant manner, he called out to the guests that clustered about the banquet hall. "Ladies and gentlemen! The Host Club welcomes you to this celebration of the upcoming winter holidays! Please enjoy yourselves!"

"Tonight we will be holding a small contest for the ladies." Kyoya took over, his planning for this event held an added bonus that neither Haruhi nor Kyo were aware of until now. "Whomever is deemed the best dancer amongst our collective selves, will be treated to a kiss under the mistletoe by the golden king himself." At this he made a grand sweeping gesture to Tamaki, who now stood looking rather dashing in his black and white suit that appeared as a polar opposite to Kyo's.

The announcement was followed by mass cry of delighted squeals (as Kyo deemed them) from every girl on the floor. Kyo stood off to the side with Haruhi, arms tucked across her chest and looking slightly surprised but with a puckered look nonetheless. Somehow she felt a bit out of the loop as this was the first time she heard about this so called "contest" while the other boys appeared to have been well aware of this.

"Did you know about this contest?" Kyo stared out across what now seemed to be an endless expanse of bodies waltzing to and fro across the marble floor, brow suddenly twitching.

"I had about as much forewarning as you did." Haruhi replied, her own expression rather flat and blank. "You mad?"

"I think I'm more pissed than anything." Kyo returned while closing her eyes a moment, head bowing a bit as if she were thinking about something. "They sort of left us out of the loop on this one, didn't they?"

A quick nod of her brunette head was all Haruhi gave in response before exhaling a small sigh. "Obnoxious." She muttered quietly beneath her breath before moving off down the staircase.

The massive party event was scheduled to last for nearly four hours, having started at around seven as was stated on the invitations that Kyoya had sent out at some point at the start of December. Catered with only the most exquisite food that would make a five star restaurant feel second rate, and decorated with fixtures and furnishings that came straight from some of the top class hotels in the country, the banquet hall glittered as if it were a grand opening. The guests were entertained by the never ceasing music that fluttered through the air and moved them through various waltzes. With the promise of being able to dance with the members of the highly adored Host Club (adored of course by the female student body) hanging in the air, each girl sought out their dream _host_ in hopes of gaining a kiss at the end of the night from the king himself.

Bowing politely to the brunette he had been dancing with throughout an entire piece, Kaoru excused himself from the floor to catch his breath off near one of the catering tables. Already his own tally of girls begging for a dance from him stood somewhere around ten or so. While he was more than happy to grant them their requests and dance about the floor, flirting as always with each one, he couldn't help but try and pick out Kyo amongst the crowd. A few times they passed one another, but only as the dance partner to a starry eyed girl who was swept up in the moment. _I hope she's not over doing it._ He bit the bottom of his lip while near standing tip toe in order to see if he could pick her out.

"Someone looks a bit anxious." Hikaru's drawl voice entered his brothers' hearing as he came to stand at his side. He eyed his brother with a raised brow and look on his face that almost challenged him to try and make an excuse. Kaoru glanced over at his brother with a more or less telling look. "You're worried about Kyo-senpai." Hikaru sighed while rubbing the back his neck and staring up at the high vaulted ceilings that towards far overhead.

"Only because I know she's an idiot and will over do something when she knows she shouldn't. Besides, it's not like you're worried about her too." Kaoru muttered while looking off towards the dancing guests only to watch as Hunny twirled by at that moment with a girl who stood about a foot taller than him. Both were giggling like mad as they passed by. Kaoru watched them with a rather amused look on his face. _She almost reminds me of Kyo's cousin, Seo-chan._

Hikaru made a huffing noise within his throat while turning away and putting the dance to his back as he looked to grab something to drink. "True, Kyo-senpai is rather dense when it comes to actually listening to anything we say to her if comes out like an order of any kind. But you have to give her a little credit I think. She's not entirely stupid." Hikaru pointed before sipping a small amount of spiced punch from a rather decorative glass. "How much you wanna bet our lord is watching her like a hawk right now?"

Both boys snickered at the thought and conjured images that came to mind almost immediately.

"Kyo-senpai, you're absolutely amazing!" The giggle escaped her lips and created a quick crimson blush to over take her face. Asuka, a girl from the same 1-A class as Haruhi and the twins, had grabbed Kyo for a dance as soon as the next song started up. She was having a wonderful time, but her thoughts were upon her friend Miura who had yet to request a dance from the same Second Year she had an undeniable crush upon. _Oh Miura-chan, just ask him! _Asuka's gaze fell upon her friend as Kyo gently twirled her with a guiding hand. She winked quickly at Miura who merely blushed and tried to hide her shyness.

Kyo grinned at Asuka. "Careful, your flattery will end up making me a spoiled _host,_ princess." He tutted in teasing jest as they easily flowed along with the music. A lighthearted laugh lifted up from Asuka in response, which only caused Kyo to grin a bit more.

"If you don't mind Kyo-senpai, I do have a favor to ask of you." Asuka's brows lifted as a rather coy look worked its way across her petite face. A curious look from Kyo was all she needed to push her onward. "Would you mind asking Miura-chan to dance with you? She's so shy she'll never ask you herself, and I know she'll just hate herself if she leaves tonight without having danced with you."

As Asuka asked, Kyo's gaze lifted and searched for the girl he knew rather well after having become her permanent _host_ request a good few months back. It took a couple of seconds for Kyo to locate her, but the girl was soon spotted as they turned about in a separating twirl. Noting the rather downcast appearance Miura projected, Kyo sighed quietly to himself before giving Asuka one of his award-winning smiles. "I would be delighted to."

The delightful sounds of the party were simply lost upon Miura's ears as she stared down at the black and white checkered marble floor. Somehow she felt as though this whole night was bound to be a waste. Her manicured fingers picked absentmindedly at the dark green taffeta dress she had bought a few days ago with her mother. It had caught her attention quickly with its deep shade of green that minted into black at different angles beneath the lights, the peacock inspired embroidered detailing only further capturing her. It was an absolutely beautiful dress for such an occasion (expensive too!). But here she was, not even finding enough courage to ask the guy of her dreams if she could have just one dance.

Miura sighed quietly in disappointment with herself.

"Such a look doesn't suit you, princess."

Her eyes snapped up quickly, widening upon seeing his face so close and smiling so warmly. A blush immediately leaped upon her cheeks as she stared at the blue-eyed _host_ who had captured her the first day they met at the tropical themed getaway the Ohtori family was developing for use by those of high status. Her breath caught within her lungs as her heart began to race incredibly fast. _He looks so perfect in that suit!_ "K-Kyo-senpai!"

Bowing to her, Kyo came up only half way before offering out a hand to her. "Well, what are you waiting for? May I have this dance Miura-san?"

From a distance away, Hunny beamed like a proud father as he watched Kyo literally sweep Miura off her feet and out on to the dance floor. "Kyon-chan really is a sweet girl!" He cooed while glancing up at his towering cousin who stood alongside him. "Takashi, don't you agree?"

Mori nodded. "She is indeed." He replied while keeping his vision trained upon the dancing pair as Kyo led Miura about. The deepening blush and the awestruck look on the girl's face was enough to let everyone know how caught up in the moment she was. "I do feel a bit sorry for Miura-san though."

"So do I." Hunny's proud look softened as he remembered that there was going to be a broken heart at the end of Kyo's time in the Host Club. "Kyon-chan knows though, and I'm sure she'll take care of things in her own time." He smiled up at Mori. "Don't you think so Takashi?"

"Ah."

The song was coming to its end, the beats and long drawn out notes signaling this to the dancers. Noticing this, Kyo started to slow their dance down, twirling Miura out from him more often as they circled the floor and criss-crossed amongst the others dancing about them. One last twirl brought Miura in close to her _host_, causing the girl to look up at the tall boy who had graced her with a dance. She stared at him with a dream ridden look upon her face, eyes almost heavy-lidded as her mind raced with the barking nag to act before that last singing violin note ended.

"Miura-san, you're a wonderful dancer." Kyo smiled down at her, and blinked a look of puzzlement at the look being set upon him. "Miura-san?"

Whether you could call it months of pent up and building feelings, or in the moment reaction...Miura leaned up towards Kyo with every intention of kissing him. However, what kiss she had looked for was downgraded quickly as Kyo turned his face just enough for his left cheek to take the soft gesture. Eyes widening in response to the kiss, Kyo felt a sinking feeling hit him dead on. A few other students who happened to be nearby at that moment held their breath in response to witnessing such a display of affection. One of those students happened to be the blonde king himself, whose jaw dropped as soon as the kiss happened. But he wasn't the only member of the Host Club to see it.

As if shocked back into reality immediately upon feeling her kiss connect, Miura pulled back from Kyo, a hand covering her mouth as she realized that within the brief five seconds that it happened it could not be taken back. She stared at him with wide eyes that had begun to glisten with sure sign of oncoming tears and at a loss for words.

Surprised beyond anything at this point, Kyo blinked dumbly for a brief moment before he noticed the near horrified look on Miura's face. Quickly the shock and surprise was wiped from his face as he acted on some sort of instinct and lifted a hand out toward her. "Miura-san...?"

Shaking her head quickly, Miura waved him off. "I, I'm sorry Kyo-senpai." She hurriedly apologized before turning about on her heel and left the floor as quickly as possible in the heels she had strapped to her feet.

Kyo stared after her, dumbstruck and at a loss as to what he should even be doing in this situation. However, girl's intuition took over and Kyo moved as if to follow after Miura and make sure she was okay, but her progress was halted before it even began as Kyoya intervened quickly.

"Let her be for a moment." Kyoya set a hand upon Kyo's shoulder, careful not to jar any of her injuries as he did. "I know you want to go make sure she's okay, but you need to let her have a moment to breath and clear her head." He glanced down from the corner of his eye to meet with the troubled gaze of his classmate and friend. "How about this, don't think like a girl for the next twenty minutes." Kyoya instructed before patting the same shoulder he had set his hand on. "Come on, we have to announce the winner soon."

"But...!" Kyo started to protest to Kyoya's instruction, but was cut off as he set the tip of his finger to the tip of her nose, causing Kyo to stare cross-eyed for a moment with a rather unamused look to his method of silencing her.

"No." Kyoya stated simply before walking off toward the balcony staircases, beckoning Tamaki to follow from his place off to the side amongst a few adoring fans who fawned over him.

There was a part of Kyo that wanted to show Kyoya up and go after Miura, but then there was a twisting pain that shot up through her ribs suddenly and made her think better of that idea. Grumbling something under breath, Kyo followed after Kyoya.

It took all around five minutes for the Host Club to assemble on the staircases, the attention of the party guests gathered upon them as Kyoya stood at the front to make the announcement of the winner who would receive a kiss under the mistletoe from the blonde king of the Hot Club himself. While unamused by the whole contest in the first place, Haruhi sat with Kyo on the steps of the stairs set to the left that wrapped up to the second floor balcony. Both girls looked rather tired and possibly even bored, which of course was hidden behind the thin and ornately carved posts that held the railing up.

"So how many did you dance with?" Haruhi glanced over at her friend with raised brow, curious to know if she had been right in the assumption that Kyo was the most popular _host_ that night.

Kyo shrugged, elbow propped up on her knee in order to hold her chin within the palm of her hand. "I lost track after fifteen."

This received a startled choke from the brunette who nearly couldn't believe what she had just heard. But before she could further question this tally, Kyoya's voice interrupted and grabbed both of their attentions.

"Ladies and gentlemen; we hope you have had a wonderful evening with us! But now, we have come to the end of our party, and as we promised earlier, we have our winner!" He smiled for show, to which the girls all cheered and awed after. A few dark thoughts ran through Kyo's mind at that moment that went unnoticed of course. "And the lovely lady to receive the kiss beneath the mistletoe from our king," at this Tamaki was suddenly striking his best prince charming pose and received a mass response to while out of what seemed like nowhere a drum roll began. "Tenjho Asuka-san from 1-A!"

Both Kyo and Haruhi perked up immediately, their heads popping up from over the banister and watched as a delighted, but beat red, Asuka made her way up the stairs to stand with Tamaki. Of course, like the gentleman, and absolutely show-off, that he is; Tamaki bowed low to her and took Asuka's right hand within his own. For some reason or other, Kyo happened to glance over at her brunette friend from the corner of her eye. There was something about Haruhi's expression that Kyo couldn't quite set her finger on but could see it was just barely there.

The kiss bestowed upon Asuka, was of course incredibly innocent as Tamaki gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek to which she almost melted beneath.

* * *

Things had ended on an incredibly high note, the guests of the party leaving in jovial spirits as they had been treated to a wonderful time thanks to the planning and entertainment of the Host Club. Asuka of course was surrounded by other girls from her class and up who were horribly curious to know what it was like to be kissed by Suoh Tamaki. 

It was quite fun to watch from the boys' point of view as they stood out on the front steps of the sprawling grand entrance to the banquet hall. Hunny giggled while tossing his Usa-chan up into the air and catching the pink bunny before spinning about and humming a light tune that he had danced to earlier that night. Mori kept an eye on his diminutive cousin, watching to make sure he didn't slip on the steps as they were holding a light layer of snow now from a small fall that had occurred during the party.

"Well, now that we've properly welcomed the winter holidays, it's time for our own party planning!" Tamaki announced while bursting out from behind his friends and turning about to face them with an excited look on his face.

"Party planning? What the hell are you talking about _dono_?" Hikaru had a bit of a confused look on his face as he was quite sure they had just had a party for the passed four hours with the rest of the high school department.

Tamaki wagged a finger at the ginger-headed boy and tutted. "Tsk, tsk, Hikaru-kun! We of course must plan for our private party that only we of the Host Club may attend!"

"You mean a party with just the eight of us?" Haruhi had a bit of an intrigued look on her face as she began to remember the small Christmas parties she would go to that friends from school had at their homes.

Nodding fervently, Tamaki gave Haruhi a thumb's up. "Exactly!" He grinned. "And, since this party will have nothing to do with Host Club matters or dealing with the rest of the student body from the high school department, I want you and Kyo to dress like girls!"

"We already are girls." Haruhi's intrigued look vanished as a flat glare took its place. "So what's that supposed to mean?"

"I believe what Tamaki is trying to say, is that he would prefer it if you and Kyo would wear feminine clothing for this party." Kyoya stepped in for the needed translation. "Which I believe wouldn't be too bad of an idea. You two could use a break from having to parade around as boys, but then again I already know you don't care either which way." A leveled look was set upon Haruhi while Kyoya held a rather unsettling smile upon his lips.

Haruhi shuddered as she knew what that look meant and looked away. "Fine, whatever." She muttered.

"Yahoo!" Tamaki jumped excitedly about before performing a pirouette and stopping almost dead as he noticed something a bit off. His amethyst gaze wandered a moment over his friends before he frowned and looked to Haruhi. "Where's Kyo?"

"Hey, yeah, you know what I haven't seen her since the party ended." Hikaru commented aloud while now taking notice to the fact that the spoken of girl was not amongst them.

Again, Kyoya brought into the conversation his own knowledge of Kyo's current whereabouts. "I wouldn't worry about her. Kyo has a small thing to take care of."

Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged unconvinced looks with one another and then shrugged as curiosity got the better of them.

On the east side of the banquet hall, where that entire side of the building held massive arched windows and glass doors opening out to long French Riviera styled patio that lead out towards a sprawling courtyard by means of wide steps. The snow-dusted courtyard held various spots to sit and enjoy the landscape and sculptures that decorated the cobblestone pathways. A beautiful gazebo was set a bit further off aways from the patio and main center stage of the courtyard, its white wood holding the frozen limbs of ivy that had since lost its green heart shaped leaves until spring. Sitting alone, body wrapped beneath the warm comfort of a fur shawl, Miura sat staring down at the thin wooden planks that made up the deck beneath her feet.

Her mind that had been swimming endlessly with the troubled thoughts dwelling upon her own actions that evening, was now near numb and void as she attempted to push it all far, far away. Her mouth was set in a deep frown as she kicked at the deck floor with the toe of her slipper.

"I hope you haven't been out here this whole time, Miura-san." The concerned tone within the statement had the girls eyes jolting upwards, wide with a look of utter shock to even find him standing there. Kyo offered her a small smile in a way to assure her that he was not at all offended or upset over what transpired. "It would be a shame if you caught a cold right before the holidays began." Kyo laughed lightly while taking a seat opposite from her as she bit the bottom of her lip and looked away.

"Kyo-senpai, why are you out here?" Miura murmured quietly while knowing full well why the _host_ she adored was currently speaking with her.

His brow creased a bit in response to her question, the tone of her voice told him that she didn't understand why even bothered, and that concerned him a bit. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. You looked upset when you excused yourself and afterward I didn't see you anywhere in the hall when the contest winner was announced." Kyo replied while leaning forward to rest his arms across the top of his knees. "I was worried that I may have possibly done something to upset you without realizing it."

Miura shook her head, the gathered curls at the back of her head swaying gently with the motion. "If anything I would have thought you'd be the one upset after what I did." Her tone remained soft, barely above a whisper as she spoke. "Kyo-senpai, I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry Miura-san. You didn't offended me in any way, in fact I'm flattered that you seem to think so highly of me." Kyo returned quickly, but in a way that was gentle towards the girl's wounded self-conscious. "But Miura-san, I need to explain something to you." Carefully, Kyo reached out and set a hand upon Miura's that lay folded within her lap. "While I am very much flattered that you are so enraptured with me, I cannot fully reciprocate what romantic feelings you have towards me."

Her eyes lifted once again and glued themselves to the downhearted look that had come to rest on Kyo's face. She stared at him, stunned that he had picked up on how she felt and gave a return to it. _Was it because I kissed him?! What if my inability to control my own feelings has forever ruined my chance to be with Kyo-senpai?! _Her eyes slowly began to glisten as she looked down at the hand upon her own as she began to dwell upon this unfortunate fate she may have brought about upon herself. However, as Miura ran through all the various reasons that could have been the reason behind Kyo's response, other than maybe he just didn't feel that way about her, she couldn't help but wonder. "Is it, because there's someone else you've already given yourself to?"

Kyo stared at her with a rather clam look. "I believe so. But like the naïve and slow person that I am when it comes to my own feelings, I'm not entirely sure." He replied. "Miura-san, you are a very sweet girl, and I would be delighted to further entertain you at the Host Club along with Asuka-san, but that's all."

Miura nodded her head as she understood what he was telling her. While it hurt to hear it, still she felt better now knowing that Kyo had realized the feelings she had towards him. Smiling a bit, Miura lifted her head. "Kyo-senpai really is far to kindhearted for his own good." A small giggle escaped her while speaking.

A sheepish grin crossed Kyo's face as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess I am, aren't I?" He chuckled.

"Ah! Kuchiki-san!" A voice called out from behind Kyo, causing the older student to glance back over his shoulder with a bit of surprised look on his face to see a boy from his class come jogging up towards the gazebo. He had a worried look on his face as he approached, and tried to hide it while climbing the very small set of steps into the open-aired arbor. "Oh, Kyo-san." He seemed a bit shocked to see the blue-eyed boy from his class sitting there as well.

"Evening Hatori-kun!" Kyo offered a rather friendly greeting while looking a bit on the awkward side of things.

Still a bit confused and obviously worried even though he tried to hide it, Hatori looked over at the blinking Miura who was a bit surprised to see him. "Um, I asked Tenjho-san if she knew where you were, and she said that you had come out here a while ago. I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay, since she said you had mentioned needing air or something." He murmured while rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous manner. A rose colored blush was creeping its way up over his face.

Seeing this, Kyo's brows rose as he looked between the two with merely the movement of his eyes. Miura looked almost as red as Hatori was as she assured him she was fine. The right corner of Kyo's mouth twitched upwards as he stood to his feet. "My friends, please excuse my abrupt departure, but I must make sure that everyone has gotten off safely. I hope you two enjoyed yourselves tonight!" With that said, Kyo turned about and vaulted over the banister of the gazebo with a swift grace that was near expert and landed in a delicate crouch on the courtyard pavement. Standing up, Kyo lifted a hand and waved while walking away. "Don't stay out here too long! A cold is a nasty way to spend the holidays!"

While Kyo's little stunt left them gawking after the _host_, the quick glance at one another from the corner of the eye sent Miura and Hatori blushing like mad.

"Oh bravo!" The sarcastic cheer and dead clap was given almost immediately as Kyo came near the patios of the banquet hall. Kaoru sat atop the stone banister that sat low and sectioned off the two separate areas from one with another and added a bit of a safety guard. He had a rather brash look on his face as he watched Kyo approach him with a tried but failed look on her face that she had been attempting to cover the horrible twist of pain with. "Was it worth it?"

"Which part? The leaving the two of them together or being an idiot and vaulting the gazebo railing?" Kyo shot back in her own sense of sarcastic retort.

"Both, you dummy." He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, what part of **don't over do it**, did you not understand?"

Kyo snorted while stopping just in front of the ginger-haired boy, arms crossing over her chest and hip set a bit out as she set all her weight back on her left foot. "I'm sorry, how old am I?" She shot back, a puckered look on her face .

Kaoru's brow twitched. "If I had to guess I'd say you were twelve, since most sixteen-year-olds generally tend to act a bit more mature than you do."

"Hey! I'm plenty mature! I just choose to ignore everyone's persistent nagging!" Kyo shot back in defense of herself while stepping closer to Kaoru. "Yours included!"

"Well excuse me for being worried about you! Would you like it if I didn't care whether or not you break something you already injured?" Kaoru snapped while glaring at her now out of complete frustration with her attitude at the moment.

Kyo huffed as she couldn't even bring herself to answer that question, and instead of the smartass remark she had ready to use, she turned her back to Kaoru and turned her head to show her own annoyance. _I already know I did something stupid! Does he really need to try and chew me out over it?! God!_ Her teeth grounded against one another as she chewed on her own self annoyance and reprimand to her actions, a small growl trembling in her throat quietly as she mulled over whether or not to apologize to Kaoru now or later. It was her own fault really, and Kaoru was only looking out for her like everyone else, but her own stubborn personality refused to bend.

However, Kaoru wasn't about to let it go as he reached out and grabbed Kyo by the shoulder. Knowing there was a good possibility that he could jar an injury, he still jerked her backwards, forcing her to stumble the last few steps that separated the two of them from one another. As soon as her upper back bumped into his chest, Kaoru wrapped his arms about her shoulders and lowered his head near her ear. "Idiot." He murmured, a bit of an embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks as he spoke.

Kyo tried to scowl but found it difficult to do so as he hugged her. "If I'm the idiot, what does that make you?" She muttered while hanging her head a bit.

"Probably an even bigger idiot." Kaoru replied.

It was a bit surprising to say the least that Kyo remained quiet, and it near shocked Hikaru as he watched his brother interact with Kyo from his own place near the corner of the building. They had both gone off to try and find where it was Kyo had disappeared to, and it was Kaoru who had found her first apparently. Hikaru had come just around the corner to catch sight of his brother pulling Kyo to him and subsequently hug her right after in what looked like a rather possessive manner. He was of course shocked, but at the same time, Hikaru felt a jolt of jealousy shoot through him. Whether it was because his brother was showing so much attention towards Kyo, or because of his own feelings for her, Hikaru was unsure of at the moment but he knew he was jealous one way or the other.


	31. Hit and Miss!

_**Chapter Thirty-One**_

_**Hit and Miss! Chance Encounters on the Street!**_

Haruhi exhaled a small sigh as she exited the small super market that she was a regular shopper at, several bags in her hands filled with groceries and a few other necessary items for the household consisting of herself and her widowed father. Squinting an eye against the mid-morning sun, Haruhi glanced up at the sky momentarily to note its appearance. A pale shade of blue with scattered wisps of white cloud stretching out across the open expanse promised merely a very chilly day that was quickly summed up with a nipping breeze that blew down the street. Shivering beneath her heavy coat and scarf, Haruhi glanced back over her shoulder as the automatic doors of the super market whined open.

Stepping out into the cold air, Kyo tugged at the beanie cap she wore over her dark hair before shoving her hands into the pockets of her jean jacket. "I freaking hate winter." She muttered under her breath while catching up to Haruhi.

"I guess since you were born in the summer, you enjoy that weather a lot more, don't you Kyo?" Haruhi asked as they started off down the street back towards the apartment.

Kyo shrugged. "Sort of. I can't stand winter because of this stupid intolerance to the cold, and spring drives me crazy." She noted the only other season that messed with her in general, a sour expression only capitalizing on the apparent loathing Kyo held for the season of new life.

A small giggle escaped Haruhi in response to both Kyo's explanation and the look on her face. _I'm glad she's joking around again. I was worried what happened with her and her family would cause a depression in her personality._ "So aside from the cold, do you at least look forward to Christmas or New Years?"

"Indeed I do." Kyo grinned while giving her a thumb's up. "That's the only upside to this whole season that I see." At this Kyo laughed only to near choke on that same laugh as someone shouted at her from across the street.

"OI! UCHIWA-SAN!"

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Kyo muttered while near dreading to even look across to the opposite side of the street. She hoped, and prayed to the gods above, that so long as she didn't look over at them they would go away...or at least not have to deal with them at all. However, Haruhi seemed to be a bit curious as to who it was that had called out to Kyo and attempted to peek out from around her. "Ah! Haruhi, don't!" Kyo scrambled to block her friend's view, but it was too late.

Haruhi's brows lifted. "Aren't those the boys you beat up a while back ago after the whole cafeteria incident between you and Mori-senpai?" She questioned while now also pointing at the mentioned four boys who were attempting to cross the street, dodging cars that zipped this way and that while being honked at for their inability to use a cross-walk.

Kyo's face had since pulled into a default glare, staring over the top of Haruhi's head so that her gaze bored into the wall of the store they stood in front of. "Yes, Haruhi. Yes they are." Her tone of voice was incredibly low and almost staggered as she spoke. _Dammit! I am in no condition to mess with these clowns!_

"Well, well, well...well." Gokudo sneered as he and his little group of comrades finally set foot on the same side of the street as Kyo. Even though school had been out for almost two months now, all four of them still opted to sport their school uniforms in their normal punk fashion, only now Gokudo sported a long white trench coat with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and collar flipped up. "If it ain't the _Katana no Sarutobi Sasuke_." His facial expression switched to a look of contempt and utter irritation towards Kyo as he jabbed a finger at her back that she still had turned to him. "Don't think we haven't forgot your insolence in our last confrontation."

"Wasn't much of a confrontation if you ask me." Kyo grumbled while shooting Haruhi a look that demanded she keep quiet and turned to face the boys with the usual flat line glare. "Go home."

All four boys faulted and hit the ground for a brief moment before recovering quickly and looking insulted of all things. Gokudo stomped his right foot and gripped his hands into hard fists that he held at the ready alongside his hips. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO US THAT WAY!!"

Kyo exhaled a frustrated sigh while crossing her arms and closed her eyes a moment in order to collect herself without blowing up on them right then and there. If anything, Kyo was quick tempered as seen in her bouts with the Hitachiin boys and even with her mouthing off towards whatever Kyoya wanted her to do, but at the same time, it took a lot to actually piss her off. However, it was incredibly easy to irritate her. "Look, if you guys wanna embarrass yourselves again, fine, but let's do it after the holidays." Her voice trembled only in the slightest as she spoke.

There was a silent pause that lasted all about ten seconds before the four burst into a fit of hoarse laughter that had many passing adults and teens alike looking at them with a sense of disgust and embarrassment. They were laughing so hard in fact that their eyes were now watering, Yu and Genji were holding their sides doubled over. Gokudo straightened as he felt his fill of laughing at the "joke" reached and now projected his tried sense of seriousness.

"Prepare yourself Uchiwa-san!" He shouted, finger pointing at her dramatically before he slid into an opening offensive stance. His subordinates taking this cue to prepare themselves as well right behind him.

Kyo stared at them with a furrowed brow, Haruhi peeking out from behind her again with a raised brow that showed her own sense of confusion to their ridiculous proclamations. "No, seriously. You guys need to go home. Better yet, GET A LIFE!" Kyo shouted, causing quite a few people on the street to jump in startled terror to her voice level and tone. "You're damn near pathetic with this whole grudge match thing! I didn't take anything from you; in fact I don't know why you even started calling me by that name in the first place!"

"What!? How dare you insult the title of _Katana no Sarutobi Sasuke_! You stole that title from my family clan's bloodline when you defeated me in the second grade, and I intend to take it back woman!" Gokudo snapped.

Her eye twitched, jaw near ready to drop at what she had heard. However, she never actually got a chance to respond to the comment, let alone have Haruhi make her own annoyed shout at it, when yet another interruption broke in and only served to cause Kyo's stress level to further rise.

"What did you just call her?!" A rather angry looking brunette haired boy shot up in the open space that separated Kyo from Gokudo, the vein in his forehead now pulsing as if it were alive all on its own. Fire burned in his eyes and seemingly around him as he would not stand for this type of insult bashing dealt upon _his_ Kyo-chan.

"M-Momiji-kun?!" Kyo stared dumbfounded at the boy.

"Who's Momiji-kun?" Haruhi inquired while looking horribly confused by this whole change in scene. She couldn't help but feel as though she had missed something all within three seconds.

Kyos' shoulders slumped forward as her head dipped into the await palm of her left hand. "I'll explain later, Haruhi. But for now, can you please look to my left and tell me if there are two girls coming our way; one looking like the towering Amazon replica of Mori-senpai, and the other just as pissed as the guy in front of me."

While still obviously confused, Haruhi nodded slowly before she glanced off to the left, eyes falling immediately upon the exact two figures that Kyo had described to her. "Uh..."

"What did I do to accumulate so much reverse karma upon myself?" Kyo muttered under her breath.

Gokudo stared at the brunette before him, blinking dumbly as he was a bit taken back by his sudden appearance. Recovering quickly, he jammed his arms over his chest, a proud cocky smirk rippling across his mouth as he did his best to look down at the boy...who in fact stood a good six inches taller than him. "What's to you shorty?!" He sneered. The faulted looks of his friends hitting the back of his head as they found it rather illogical for him to even dare use the term _'shorty'_ as a challenging insult.

Momiji set a glare upon the guy before him and showed just the slightest surprise at having someone call him _short_. Before he could open his mouth to retaliate by any means possible, Momiji was cut off by the distinct shouting of his young sister who stormed her way right on up to his side and shot the boys one hell of a viper glare.

"DO YOU EVER LISTEN TO YOURSELF WHEN YOU TALK OUTLOUD GOKUDO-SAN?!" Ami roared, her presence something akin to the famed Medusa of Greek myth as she threatened instant death upon the punk gang of high schoolers she (unfortunately in her opinion) attended the same school with ever since junior high.

Haruhi noted just how quickly Gokudo flinched underneath the sharp reprimand shot down upon him by a girl who stood half his height. "She's scary."

"You have no idea." Hana exhaled an exasperated sigh from place just behind Kyo and Haruhi, her agreement causing both girls to jump and quickly look behind themselves.

"Hana-senpai! When did you get there?!" Kyo stared at her with a rather withdrawn look on her face, startled at how quietly she had just shown up.

Uzuki Hana lifted an amused brow, lips playing on the edge of a satisfied smirk before shrugging. "About the same time Ami snapped down on that idiot and his _gang_." She added an incredibly heavy load of sarcasm upon the final word of her sentence. "So, what brings the all together reclusive Kyo-chan out into this lovely winter weather?" Her gaze flitted over to unknown brunette Kyo seemed to be hanging out with at the moment.

"Uh, well, I was helping with an errand." Kyo scratched the back of her head while glancing over to Haruhi. "Haruhi, this is Uzuki Hana-senpai, she's the older sister of my friend Ami-chan and Momiji-kun. She's the one who turned my hair back to black." Kyo grinned as she introduced the two to one another.

"Nice to meet you Uzuki-san. I'm Fujioka Haruhi." Bowing politely to the older girl, Haruhi smiled.

Hana inclined her head a bit as she recognized the name immediately. "Ah, so this is the famous Fujioka Haruhi I've heard about. Kyo-chan told me about the unfortunate debt the two of you are in with a few boys from Ouran." She snickered as the images of Kyo and Haruhi dressed in the boys' uniform and being fawned over by rabid fan girls entered her thoughts.

"H-Hai, that would be me indeed." Haruhi chuckled in a sheepish manner as she hadn't expected to be that well-known by someone she had just met. "Kyo's told me a lot about you and your siblings."

"Yeah that sounds about right. Kyo-chan can usually never keep her mouth shut about anyone she likes or befriends." Hana eyed the dark haired girl with a Cheshire smirk. "Isn't that right Kyo-chan?"

The eyebrow over Kyos' right eye twitched in response. "And Hana-senpai has an even bigger mouth when in the company of said people."

A chuckle from Haruhi was quickly drowned out by the eruption of a shout coming from behind her and Kyo. Attention turned to the flinching boy who scrambled to keep out of Amis' reach as she started swinging her purse around like some sort of whip as she seemed to have finally had it with whatever argument he was trying to present.

"You think maybe we should help him?" Hana lifted a slightly amused brow as she watched her little sister catch two of the other boys upside their heads with just one well placed swing.

"No freaking way." Kyo replied while taking some sort of mild amusement out of the beating her friend was handing.

Hana nodded while folding her arms. "Heh, who knew Ami could be this entertaining."

While it was rather amusing to watch as a small girl no taller than herself, pummel out the protesting shrieks of bigger boys for her to stop, Haruhi was suddenly awakened to the fact that she still had groceries in her hands that needed to be taken home soon. _Hmm..._ "Hey, Kyo?" The dark haired girl glanced over to her side where Haruhi was standing and looking back up at her. "I need to get these groceries home. If you want to stay here with your friends I can come back and meet up with you guys somewhere." She suggested, a shrug of her shoulders showing she held no particular as to what they did.

"Aiya, I completely forgot about that." Kyo smacked herself in the forehead. Glancing over to Hana, Kyo lifted a brow. "What were you guys up to today anyways?"

"Those two are dragging me to Shibuya Station. Something about wanting to get a head start on Christmas shopping at Tokyu Department Store." Hana exhaled a long sigh as she spoke, the thoughts of being dragged around by her two younger siblings for the whole day none to appealing. "You two wanna come?"

Haruhis' eyes lit up at the suggestion and idea of shopping around in Shibuya, although... "I'd love to, but I'm not entirely sure I could make it. I don't want to leave dad without any dinner." She frowned slightly while a few other little things poked at her.

Kyo watched her friend for a moment, and then grinned as she turned to Hana again. "We'll meet you guys there!" She announced while putting an arm about Haruhis' shoulders and pulling her in against her side. "First we need to go drop the groceries off though, and you need to yank Ami-chan off Gokudo and the others."

Chuckling lightly, Hana nodded. "Alright. When you guys get to Shibuya call me on my cellphone and we'll meet up by Hachiko." She then shooed them off while stepping off towards her sister who seemed to have become a whirlwind of flying purse and angry shouts bearing down on the punks.

"But Kyo, I said I can't go. I have to make sure dad has dinner, and I don't really have the means to be taking off to Shibuya on." Haruhi protested while being forced to follow after Kyo who was now leading the way back to the apartment.

Glancing back over her shoulder, a smile playing on her lips, Kyo winked. "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of everything. Besides, I kind of owe you for that whole onsen trip gone to hell."

A rather stunned look overtook Haruhis' expression for a moment before it screwed up into curiosity as fell in step beside Kyo. "But that wasn't your fault Kyo. I don't see why you owe me anything."

"Guilty conscience I guess." Kyo replied while shrugging. "At least we don't have to worry about the guys ambushing us this time." She laughed aloud to her own comment only to have that laugh stabbed dead by the sharp shrill lyrics of a ring tone she had set on her cellphone to identify that one specific caller.

The two girls froze in their tracks, wide startled gazes slipping down to the coat pocket that Kyos' cellphone had been shoved into. Looking at one another they nodded in silent agreement to ignore the call. In fact, as soon as the ring tone ended, Kyo yanked her phone of her pocket and quickly set it on silent vibrate. Oh yes, she had learned lesson real fast at the onsen.


	32. Shopping Adventures In Shibuya!

_**Chapter Thirty-Two**_

_**Shopping Adventures in Shibuya!**_

"I still say you didn't have to do all that." Haruhi sighed for possibly the thirteenth time since they left the apartment for the second time that day. She picked at the tasseled end of the wool knit scarf she wore about her neck while staring down at her boots.

And for the thirteenth time, Kyo rolled her eyes and shook her head. "And I still say that you should just drop it and let me treat you to a day out in Shibuya." She elbowed her friend teasingly. "You'll get to meet Ami-chan and Momiji-kun properly, **and**, none of the boys will be flouncing about us!" Kyo grinned while holding up her index finger as if making some incredibly valid point that just won a war.

Haruhi smiled wryly. "I guess you do make a good point."

"I always do." Kyo grinned while sitting back in her seat on the train, folding her arms back behind her head. "So, what are you and your dad gonna be doing for Christmas?"

Shrugging, Haruhi made herself a bit more comfortable in her seat beside Kyo. "Not sure yet. I know we'll be spending it at home of course. Dad might invite a few of his co-workers over for dinner." Crossing her left leg over the right, Haruhi glanced up at the metal ceiling above their heads as she thought. "I wonder what I should get dad this year?" Haruhi murmured aloud, her tone quiet and near a whisper as she spoke.

"Well what do you usually get him?" Kyo lifted a brow as she glanced over at her.

Again Haruhi shrugged. "Different things that I know he eventually needs and can use. I normally wait until his birthday or Christmas to buy the especially nicer gifts if I can." She sighed. "But this time, with everything I've been doing with the Host Club and just classes at Ouran, I haven't been able to really pay attention to a lot at home." Her shoulders slumped forward as she spoke, a bit of a downhearted look cutting across her features as well.

Kyo felt a frown tug at her own mouth now in reaction to the one of her friend. "Well, maybe we'll find something in Shibuya, neh? I mean we have a whole day practically to window shop and browse around. I'm sure something will stand out. If not, you could always just ask him later and we can go shopping again another time too." Kyo offered, hoping the depressed look on Haruhi would lift soon and not remain for the duration of their day.

A very small smile beckoned at the corner of her mouth as Haruhi found a small amount of solace in Kyos' words. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Indeed. It's a known fact." A snickering and cocky grin split Kyos' mouth wide as she returned to her normal sitting position.

"Mhmm, and the twins are totally not rubbing off on you either." Haruhi rolled her eyes as she received a playful cuff to her ear for that remark.

The train to Shibuya was only a twenty-minute ride and had the girls stepping off on to the platform just a little passed noon. It fell upon Kyo to get them in touch with Hana and her siblings while heading out the Hachiko Exit to meet up with them at an already predetermined meeting spot. There was an odd sort of chill that ran up Kyos' spine as she flipped her phone open and was immediately glared at by the big bold black number of **40** staring her down with a small phone icon slashed out by a small line.

_You have got be kidding me! Can't they go just one freaking day without us?! _Kyo glanced over at Haruhi who was at the moment completely unaware of how many calls that had been made and missed on purpose. "Oi, Haruhi, do you have your phone with?"

Kyos' tone of voice was a bit low and shaky, causing the younger girl to glance up at her with a rather confused look. "Uh, yeah. Why?" She was already digging it out of her purse. Flipping the phone open, she choked and froze in her tracks.

Slowly, Kyo looked down over her shoulder, face pulling into what could only be described as a horrified look as she choked as well. **55** missed calls. "They're desperate." Kyo hissed while looking about their position quickly. It was well known the Ohtori Kyoya, the club's infamous _Shadow King_, had an entire force of secret police employed by his family at his command. On a whim he could easily deploy them to seek out and retrieve one of or both of them. Another chill ran up Kyos' spine. "Should even dare to see who made the calls?" Kyo looked to Haruhi.

"I think I'm too scared to do it." Haruhi returned while making an attempt to get herself to actually close her phone, only it rang at that exact moment. Both girls gave a startled cry, Haruhi nearly dropping her phone as she attempted to keep it as far away from her as possible. "Kyo I'm scared!"

Thinking quickly and seeing no other way out their mess, Kyo snatched Haruhis' phone while pulling her own out of the pocket of her coat. "If they try to track us, they'll use our phones to do so. Primarily the SIM card inside. Haruhi, I'll buy you a new phone today, I swear!" Kyo spotted a trashcan near the exit doorway itself. Grabbing a hold of Haruhis' wrist, both cellphones now alive with a call coming through, Kyo darted through the crowds and slid to a halt before the trashcan.

Without a second thought she yanked the back of either phone, pulled out the SIM cards, and snapped them in half before tossing the pieces into the trashcan along with their phones. Still holding Haruhi by the wrist, Kyo made for the outside, wary of the fact that they could be possibly under surveillance at that very moment...or at least her paranoid demeanor was now convincing her of this. At the corner of the scramble crossing, Kyo finally let go of Haruhi and nearly fell forward as she set her hands on her knees and attempted to catch a fresh breath.

"You really think that's going to keep them off our backs?" Haruhi asked while still feeling a bit sad at loosing her cellphone.

"I can only hope so." Kyo muttered while standing up straight. "Kyoya's the kind of person I could see sticking tracking devices on us at Tamaki's asking, but I doubt he may have actually even done that."

They went quiet for a moment as that last thought hung in the air above their heads like a small little storm cloud. They could just see it; somehow, some way, when they weren't aware of it a small little tracking bug of some kind was stuck upon them, and could possibly be feeding information to a radar system monitored by all six boys.

Haruhi murdered her thoughts immediately. "I really hope not."

"Ditto." Kyo agreed while waving away the thought clouds that seemed to cling about her head stubbornly.

Crossing with the swarms as the lights changed, Kyo took the lead and headed for the statue of the dog Hachiko that the Hachiko Exit was named after. Hana was supposed to already be there with Ami and Momiji, so hopefully they wouldn't have to difficult of a time in finding them without a cellphone. _Fat chance_.

Luckily enough though, they were spotted upon stepping foot back upon a sidewalk as apparently Momiji had made it his personal mission to station himself within a tree to have a higher point of view over things. He wanted to spot Kyo first and be the first one to greet her in his normal fashion. Scrambling down out of the tree, Momiji darted towards the approaching blue-eyed beauty he had infatuated with since his sister brought her home one day after school. Before she even knew what hit her, Kyo was snatched up and spun about insanely fast while crushed beneath the all consuming embrace of the overly excited boy who could give Tamaki a run for his money.

"Kyo-chan! Oh my god, you're here!!" Momiji cried, gaining a few stares from others milling about and meeting up with friends of their own. Setting her down, Momiji rubbed his cheek atop her head as if she were some sort of stuffed toy he had misplaced and just found. Something suddenly struck him just then, causing the brunette haired boy to pull back and hold Kyo out in front of him. "Why didn't you answer your cellphone?"

Momijis' voice sounded distant and muted as her world tilt-a-whirled about her long even after being set down on her feet. Swaying slightly, Kyo shook the spinning world back into place before comprehending the question asked of her and gathering a decent answer once her stomach quelled from the upsetting motions of near spin-cycle. "Oh, yeah, very _long_ and _complicated_ story." Kyo replied while waving it off and changing the subject. "Where are your sisters?" Their absence nearby was now picked up upon.

Chuckling in his usual brush off manner, Momiji opened his mouth to say something in response only to finally notice the brunette accompanying Kyo. "Oh, hey there! You must be Haruhi-san!" Momiji grinned childishly at her.

Haruhi giggled quietly behind a hand while nodding. "I am; and you must be Momiji-san. Kyo has told me all about you." She grinned. While in part the fact that she had been told about Momiji was true, there was a sense of misleading as Kyo had quickly inform Haruhi about Momiji in full as they traveled between the apartment to train station. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Momiji grinned again, attention turning to Kyo once again. "Did you guys eat yet?" Kyo shook her head _'no'_, which only ignited an even larger grin across Momiji's face as he slipped in between both girls, hooking an arm with theirs and took the lead to find his sisters. "Good! Then I have an awesome idea for lunch! You girls like kimchi?"

A giggle erupted from either female on his arm that caught both off-guard and caused them to exchange looks with one another before bursting into a fit of laughter as they walked along with Momiji, who in turn merely beamed.

Meeting up with the other two girls wasn't too much of a chore considering the fact Momiji had his cellphone. Once they met up, and after Momiji received a berating reprimand from Ami about leaving her and Hana behind, the group followed said boy to the only restaurant in the area serving kimchi. While lunch lasted a good half hour with consistent conversation bouncing about various subjects between the group of five, funny stories and recounts of embarrassing moments from everyone, the bunch soon headed off into the shopping malls where it seemed as though all of Japan had just suddenly converged.

"I forgot how many people shop here at any given time. And considering it's the Christmas season, I'd say we're in for one hell of an adventure." Hana muttered while slipping around a fast moving shopper loaded down with bags. Glancing back over her shoulder to keep track of the younger four members tailing after her, she paused a moment for them to catch up. "So, since our two lovely gal pals here are currently cellphone-less, we can't exactly split up and converge to move somewhere else."

Both Ami and Haruhi nodded in agreement to this while Momiji simply rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. Kyo on the other hand held a rather unamused look at the mention of no cellphone on her or Haruhi, because it also conjured up that all to creepy paranoid feeling of possibly being tracked down by the group of boys they were hoping to all out avoid today. _Stupid Kyoya and his 'Shadow King' reach! _A rathercross look took hold of Kyo's face that Hana merely lifted a brow to.

"I'm having an idea!" Ami exclaimed, hands shooting up above her head. "Let's just go get these two new cellphones!"

Hana chuckled while nodding in agreement. However, Kyo and Momiji exchanged looks with one another that had Haruhi muffling a laugh of her own as they moved on towards the closest cellphone hut at hand. And as Kyo had told her at the train station, the new cellphone Haruhi picked out was paid for by the older teen girl in replacement to the one they had to ditch along with her own. Armed with new cellphones, and phone numbers exchanged, the group headed off into the belly of the mall.

Aside from the cellphone hut, the group's first stop occurred at a small store selling trinkets, jewelry, and some other little odds and ends that fascinated the girls more than Momiji before he finally ushered them out and back into the main part of the mall. Moving on, the group entered an electronics department at the request of the only boy in the group who insisted he needed to grab a present for a few friends at his school. While Momiji scampered off and disappeared amongst the displays and video game products, Hana trailed after his general direction while Kyo, Haruhi, and Ami wandered off elsewhere until it was time to leave.

"I swear he has an electronic addiction." Ami muttered under her breath as she followed Kyo down a CD aisle.

Shrugging, eyes glancing over the various titles almost surrounding her, Kyo smirked a bit to herself. "He's a gamer, what'd you expect? It's not like he's the only one either Ami." Kyo pointed out while nodding back towards the group of kids looking through the same area Momiji had vanished within.

Screwing up her face, Ami stared across the store for a moment before finally letting out an exhale and rolling her eyes. "Well, whatever. I still say he has an electronic addiction."

Haruhi chuckled lightly while fingering through the pop CD collection in front of her, browsing for anything that caught her eye. However, while trawling the selections, Haruhi paused for a moment and lifted her head from its bowed position and glanced about. She could have sworn she just heard her name. Looking back over her shoulder, Haruhi noted that Ami was busy scanning through CDs as well, and off to the left Kyo was reading the song selection on the back of an album. Both were occupied with what they were doing, and it appeared as though neither had called her name. _Weird... _Haruhi lifted a brow while returning to the CD rack before her.

As if on cue, Kyo was the next to pause in the midst of reading the listed tracks on the back of a CD. She had the distinct feeling of someone staring at her, that and she was pretty damn sure she heard her name. Lifting a brow in confusion, Kyo glanced off to her left in time to watch two employees of the store pass the end of the aisle chatting with one another. _Okay... _Kyo couldn't help but now glance to her right where Ami stood just a few good steps down from her and found nothing and no one else. _Now this is just weird, because my "I'm about to be horribly mangled within the next few minutes" senses are tingling, and that only happens when a few certain boys happen to be within the vicinity or my mom is about to break down my bedroom door. _A furrow started to settle across Kyo's brow as she shot a shifty-eyed glance about just to make sure.

Glancing back over her shoulder to Haruhi, Kyo felt that it was indeed time to leave, if not for the weird creepy feeling worming its way up her back then for the paranoia setting in. "Oi, Haruhi, you find anything you want?" Kyo asked while putting the CD away and catching Ami's attention in gesture for her to do the same.

"Not really, no." Haruhi sighed while shrugging. "Is Momiji-san done already?" She asked, gaze glancing to Ami who in turned shrugged and looked to Kyo.

Nodding quickly and taking a step forward, arm hooking Haruhi's and then turning to do the same with Ami, Kyo forced off a smile before literally dragging the two girls with her down the aisle quickly towards the store exit. "Yep, lets get a move on right away my friends! We have many more stores to browse and throw our money away in!" She laughed, and a rather overly giddy nervous laugh that had Ami and Haruhi exchanging disturbed looks with one another while still going along anyways.

Coming out of the music aisle the trio of girls nearly plowed right into the rather satisfied looking Momiji and exasperated Hana, who merely appeared slightly surprised to almost being bulldozed by an awkward train. "Wow, Kyo, get a reign on that over zealous personality." Hana held her hands up and mock pushed the air as if to slow the dark haired girl down.

"Aw, come on Hana-neechan! I'm sure Kyo-chan here knew I was all done shopping through mere instinct, and came looking for her one true knight in shinning armor!" Momiji grinned while sliding up in between his sister Ami and Kyo, tossing an arm around Kyo's shoulders and holding her incredibly close to his side. Setting his cheek against hers as if he were some excited small child cuddling a kitten or puppy, Momiji practically nuzzled his friend in an overly affectionate manner to which induced a groan and the roll of the eyes from both his sisters.

The muttered and muffled sounds of what sounded like a struggle to cover up a shout appeared to be muttered from somewhere almost close at hand, that had the small group pausing for a moment and lifting puzzled brows as they glanced about as they were sure they had heard something but didn't know what.

"You guys heard that, yeah?" Ami asked first, looking between her brother and sister who nodded in agreement, and then looked between Kyo and Haruhi who nodded as well in agreement. "Okay, just checking."

Shaking her head, Hana turned to head for the store exit, the others following after her with Ami yanking Momiji off Kyo and shouting at him to behave. Haruhi merely chuckled at the whole scene, but cast a glance back over her shoulder as they left the store. Just like Kyo and a cellphone call; Haruhi knew better.

Meandering further through the mall, stopping off at a few various stores here and there, the group of five eventually found that as the clock ran up to three o'clock their stomachs were beginning to grumble. Only through the "_gentle"_ persuasion of the ever persuasive Ami, they settled for stopping at a little crepe cafe sticking out from in between a book store and a girl's clothing store.

"Two strawberry crepes please." Kyo dug her wallet from the black and yellow stripped purse sized messenger bag hanging across her chest from the right shoulder. The total had come to a lovely **¥**1,000 for the two crepes, but after catching sight of the drink menu at her immediate right on the counter, she lifted a brow. "You know what, I'd like to add two hot chocolates to my order, please."

"Yeah, sure no problem." The cashier murmured while adding in on the order already placed by the tall woman before him. "Okay then, your total is now **¥**2,050."

Without even batting an eye or giving a second thought, Kyo pulled from her wallet the necessary amount and received change back before being handed two styrofoam cups of hot chocolate, one of which she tucked into the crook of her arm as the strawberry crepes were handed over wrapped in the bright green and red wrappings all in the Christmas spirit. Rejoining her little group, Kyo passed off one of the crepes and cocos to Haruhi who gratefully thanked her.

Seated around one of several small white plastic tables, the group settled in for a moment to enjoy the sweet little treats they purchased to curb the faint start of hunger pains. Chomping down on the strawberry filled crepe, Haruhi quietly sighed in contentment as she savored the sweet flavors flooding her sense of taste at that moment. It was nice to just hang out with a few people, browsing through stores, snacking in a food court, and not feeling at all stressed out or hampered by the buzz of rich boys in "commoner territory". She found common ground with Kyo's friends and enjoyed their company immensely as they chatted through mouthfuls of crepe.

"Neh, neh, Kyo-chan, what are you going to do for Christmas this year?" Ami pipped up as the conversation curved towards the upcoming holiday. Her brows lifted high as she dug in for another bite of the banana flavored crepe in her hands.

"Not sure." Kyo replied while trying to quickly formulate a way to completely dodge the subject at the moment. "Family thing, maybe. So what are you guys doing?" If it was possible, Kyo spoke almost as quickly as she could zip out of an awkward situation, and successfully changed the point of conversation. To which she promptly also ended with her teeth sinking into her crepe.

Ami giggled first before responding. "Staying at home for sure. I heard it's supposed to snow like crazy Christmas Eve." She grinned.

An overly taunt look of disgust hit Kyo's expression at the mere mention of snowfall. It was definitely a look that couldn't be disguised let alone missed, especially as both Hana and Haruhi chuckled quietly as they were all to familiar with Kyo's ample distaste for the winter weather. Wrinkling her nose, brow furrowing, Kyo scoffed while glancing off down the mall stretch way. Taking a bite from her crepe and festering on the thought there was a big snow fall coming within the next two weeks, Kyo started to slowly loose a bit of her frown as she people-watched for a few minutes as her friends continued to chat.

While people-watching, those blue-eyes of hers glanced over a familiar face. A familiar face that knew they had been spotted from the clearly panicked look scrawling out in an expression before scrambling to get behind something as cover. _No freaking way! Wait, calm down Kyo... maybe you were just seeing things. Yeah, that's it. You're just seeing things! After all, you ditched the cellphones and didn't answer any of their calls. Ha ha, I'm loosing my flipping mind. _Kyo could feel her eye twitch as she attempted to calm herself down and return to the conversation going on beside her.

Satisfied with their small snack, the girls wrangled Momiji into the clothing store next door to them, to which he merely protested with minimal effort before finally caving after Kyo suggested he help her look find a sweater. Grinning like a kid on his birthday, Momiji skipped after Kyo while the other girls wandered around the scarf and winter hat display.

"If you find a charcoal colored sweater in here let me know." Kyo glanced over at the brunette haired boy standing at her right while riffling through the selection of sweaters and long sleeved shirts on the circular rack. "Preferably in a medium size."

Nodding as he walked around to the other side of the rack to begin his part of the search, Momiji lifted a brow with a mere glance toward the girl in front of him. "So, Kyo-chan, how's Ouran been treating you?" He casually asked.

Not even missing a beat, Kyo slid a few items to the side. "It's treating me fine, I suppose. Classes are cake, except for Home Economics, but Haruhi has been helping me out with that." Her gaze never once flickered up to the boy in front her, rather remaining on the task at hand.

"That's good." Momiji murmured while biting his bottom lip, peeking up again at Kyo. "How's that Suoh-san doing? His dog escape again after that one time?"

"Nah, Antoinette hasn't gotten loose again at all. Tamaki's good, why do you ask?" Kyo paused, eye lifting up finally to meet a rather unsettled look on Momiji's face.

Merely shrugging, Momiji played with a shirt he had yet to push aside. "Just curious. He's a good friend of yours now, right?"

Kyo's brow furrowed as she watched Momiji fidget in his place on the other side of the clothes rack. "Of course, he's like a brother now to me. The guy freaks out whenever I overdo something or don't let him know if I'm going off somewhere. It's almost like having a second dad sometimes." Kyo smirked slightly as she returned to searching for a new sweater.

"So, he's not like your boyfriend or anything then?" Momiji stared at her with what looked like a surprised look on his face as he was sure that the blonde had moved in on Kyo, especially after seeing how familiar he acted around her that one night they went dog searching.

For a moment, Kyo simply gawked at Momiji with a near look of stupefied horror. "What?! No! I mean, Tamaki's a good looking guy and all, but I don't see myself ever wanting to step outside friendship with him. Ever. Why would you ask something like that anyways?"

"I don't know!" Momiji retorted while shrugging. "You guys just seemed really close, and that was all I could think of." He explained while swatting a few shirts to his left.

Kyo remained quiet as she just stared at him, reading the contorted expression on his face before her brows suddenly lifted in realization to what was behind the motivation of his questions. "You're jealous." She snickered behind a Cheshire grin.

"I am not! If I were jealous, then that would mean I liked you!" Momiji blurted out while looking a bit on the riled up side of things, although a burning red blush over took his face.

Another snicker would have escaped Kyo, had it not been for the rather strange sound that could almost be described as a growl coming from somewhere off to Kyo's left. Both Momiji and Kyo paused amidst their task and argument and exchanged confused looks with one another. It had been almost a subtle noise that had both scratching their heads in wonder to whether or not they had even heard the sound in the first place.

"You heard that right?" Momiji glanced over at Kyo, who at the moment was starting to take a much more on the edge sort of look than curious.

Nodding slowly, eyes darting to the left and right repeatedly, Kyo started to inch her way out from around the clothes rack. "Yeah, I think so." She glanced back over her shoulder quickly as if hoping to catch someone off-guard. No one. "Hey, why don't we go see what the others are up to." Kyo grabbed a hold of Momiji's wrist and darted off towards the front of the store before any protests and or other odd noises could start up.

"Kyo-chan, what's going on?" Momiji yanked his wrist back once they had cleared the clothes racks and rubbed at it as Kyo's grip had been near vice-like. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Blue-eyes darted about their surroundings, because even at the front of the store, Kyo felt exposed out in the open. "N-Nothing. Nothing at all. I just wanted to go see what the others were up to!" Her voice sounded as though it were about to crack with a high pitch, which caused Momiji to raise speculative brow. Meeting his questioning and otherwise unconvinced stare, Kyo went stiff and quickly pointed at the group of girls hovering off to the side before the floor mirror, an overly excited look on her face as she seemed to be panicking to keep cool. "Oh hey! There they are! Let's go see what they're up too!" And before Momiji could even open his mouth to say anything, Kyo was already zipping passed other customers and displays.

Shaking his head, Momiji followed after her at a much more relaxed pace. "Whatever you say Kyo-chan."


	33. Mall Stalkers

_**Chapter Thirty-three**_

_**Mall Stalkers**_

Ami giggled while leading the way out of the clothes store, turning her head just enough to glance back over her shoulder and watched as Haruhi continued to protest against the new scarf Kyo had bought for her not more than thirty seconds ago. "Give it up already Haruhi-san." She grinned, knowing full well it was absolutely pointless to go against whatever Kyo had made her mind up about.

"But, I said it was nice and that the color was pretty, that didn't mean I wanted her to buy it for me!" Haruhi returned while looking fully exasperated now as she nudged spoken of friend in the ribs with an elbow.

"Aw, come on." Kyo grinned while feigning a look of hurt at the same time; not an easy task mind you. "Just think of it as an early Christmas present from me." She waved her hand as though brushing the whole subject off.

Haruhi lifted a brow while she crossed her arms over her chest, keeping in step with Kyo and the sibling trio that were becoming fast friends with one another. A small smile began pulling at the corner of her mouth as the bag in her hand containing the new scarf Kyo had purchased for her rustled in a brush against her leg. It was a rather simple gift, the thing wasn't even that expensive, but still she didn't think it was absolutely necessary. Exhaling an exasperated sigh, Haruhi picked her pace up enough to slip up alongside Kyo to punch her in the arm in playful manner. "Thanks."

While it had been a playful punch, Kyo nonetheless pouted in response in order to hide a small wince as the shoulder muscle was still a bit sore. Most of her injuries from the family brawl were all but faint bruises and a few sore points now. But still, when over extended or over used, the sharp prickling pain reminded the blue-eyed teen she was still on the recovery list. "You're welcome." Kyo smiled while reaching out and tussling Haruhi's hair a bit.

"Now that's a Kodak moment." Hana chuckled. "So, where else guys? We got about another two hours to kill before we need to head back to the train station itself for the ride home." She glanced down at the watch strapped around her left wrist, noting that six o'clock was creeping up on them rather quickly.

Ami shrugged, as did Momiji; so thusly all eyes were laid upon Haruhi and Kyo who merely returned their own wide-eyed looks of question right back in response. Kyo glanced over at Haruhi. "Anywhere you wanna go?"

A thoughtful look overtook Harhui's features as she pondered if there was somewhere she wanted to go specifically. After all, Kyo did say they would come back out later to actually get their own Christmas shopping down when it had been preplanned ahead of time, versus spur of the moment. "You know what, I think there's a store I want to check out." A bright look appeared within her brown eyes as she gave Kyo and the others a grin that had them all looking a bit curious.

It took all but five minutes for them to pick their way amongst the crowds before they stood staring up at the large puffy rounded letters arched over the wide open doors to a bustling... toy store. Being the only boy in the group, Momiji stared up at the letters above with a sort of speculative look, while the girls seemed to be rather amused.

"So, a toy store?" Ami glanced over at Haruhi with a grin she couldn't help but use.

"Yep. A toy store." Haruhi affirmed with a nod of her head before taking the first steps forward into the menagerie of children and adults.

A laugh escaped Kyo before she followed after her classmate, beckoning with a wave for the others to follow as well. _This'll be entertaining. _Kyo grinned while taking immediate note of how incredibly alive the store was. There was a pulse in the air that sent a chill up the spine and pulled the inner child out of any adolescent and grown-up alike inside. Toy stores seemed to have a funny way of doing that.

It didn't take more than five steps before each member of the little shopping group went off in their own separate directions to which ever genre of toy they were attracted to.

Momiji disappeared somewhere off down the action figure aisles, Ami down the collectible plushies, Hana lost herself in the board games, Haruhi ventured immediately towards the what looked like the dolls and figurines, and Kyo wandered off towards the dress-up/costume aisles. Like moths drawn to the flame, each one just seemed to stare and pick through the products on the shelves, even reminiscing over childhood memories these small trinkets and items resurfaced.

It had been a long time since Kyo had stepped foot inside just your common run of the mill toy store. In fact, it had been years since she stepped inside of any toy store in general. The last time... had she been twelve? No, maybe ten? Either way, it had been a long time. Dressing up had been one of her favorite things to do as a kid, prancing about the gardens in some sparkling princess dress complete with tiara and small pieces of jewelery. Of course, everything her parents bought her were anything but the best and finest for a small child. She would have been the envy of every girl her age back then if she had friends outside the circle her family had created.

A rather ironic thing really, as she daily protested against the elaborate costumes the Host Club often sported for their themed events and catering. _I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't because I'm being semi-forced to do so. Stupid debt. _A somewhat of an unamused look ruptured across her face as she stared at a child-sized version of a waiter's getup.

Oh yes, she had worn something like that a few months ago. And as always, the Hitachiin brothers were more than ready to pull their pranks and tease her. Rolling her eyes at the memory of that rather _eventful_ day, Kyo continued down the aisle, staring at the various costume pieces and accessories available now for the new generation to play with.

However, that feeling of being watched crept up on her, causing Kyo to glance about a few times just to assure herself that it was only a result of having more than a handful of other people down on the same aisle.

After taking a few more minutes to browse the array of play things, Kyo moved to continue off down the aisle but paused a moment as Ami appeared at the end with a somewhat disturbed look on her face as she approached. "Hey, there you are." Ami's brows scrunched a little as she stood in front of her friend and hooked a thumb back over her shoulder. "This is probably gonna sound weird, but I think there's someone following us around."

For a moment, Kyo just stared at her with a speechless look before she snapped back into reality and tried to smirk. "Ami-chan I think you're just seeing things." Kyo chuckled nervously while looking passed her as she spoke. Her forced expression suddenly faulted as she choked on her words. A tall man dressed in dark blue fatigues scurried passed the open end of the aisle, a hand raised as if to either block the view of his face or obscure the fact that he was even there. Kyo's face pulled a dumbfounded fault in response.

"I don't think that's mall security, unless they changed their uniform in the passed seven minutes." Ami lifted a brow as she glanced over at the speechless Kyo, who quickly recovered in time to pass off an expression of nonchalant question. "Kyo-chan?"

Immediately Kyo's brow began twitching as her suspicions were more than confirmed now; paranoia was a thing of the three second past and utter annoyance now overtook her person at the moment. "Stay here a minute." Kyo mumbled while sliding out from around her and headed off down the aisle, leaving a puzzled Ami behind who merely shrugged once Kyo disappeared and amused herself with the various child costumes.

While Ohtori Kyoya was normally considered a sneaky bastard in Kyo's opinion, but also respected and treated as a friend as well; his tact was anything but covert. _Either that or this one officer just sucks at his job. _Kyo rolled her eyes while making her way down the back aisle and slipped out of the store. Out in front of the store, Kyo glanced about the crowds. Looking left then right, Kyo spotted the disappearing private police officer.

Lifting a brow as she momentarily took a moment to think upon this, Kyo pieced a few things together before turning on her heel and walking about ten feet to the left before she turned around a corner, and literally came face to face with a now very spooked blonde who topped her by a handful of inches.

"K-Kyo!!" Tamaki stuttered, flustered by the fact that she had just so suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere. "Uh, wow, what a surprise to run into you here!" He grinned nervously while taking a step back and waving his hands about madly as he fought to find something else to say in order to avoid anything painful. "Hey I didn't know you owned a skirt! You look good in it! Uh, wait, I meant that you, uh ...um ...!"

A flat expressionless look held to Kyo's face as she merely watched Tamaki flip out in his usual manner when he knew he had been caught doing something. "Flattery isn't going to get you out of trouble, Tamaki. But, thank you." Kyo forced herself to remain inexpressive towards the comments that Tamaki had tried to bargain with; but there was the part of her that wanted to smile bashfully and allow herself a moment to revel in the flattery offered by her friend. However... "So, when did Kyoya unleash his private police to track us down?"

Tamaki scoffed the best he could while trying to look almost offended by the accusation against him. "I don't know what you're talking about! Honestly, can't a guy just come out to a mall and wander about?" He crossed his arms. "You know, you should take a more cautious approach when coming around those corners." His attempt to turn the tables and scold Kyo would have worked, had it not been for the simple fact that, well ...this was Tamaki speaking.

"...where's Kyoya?"

"Food court."

Kyo let out a penned up breath while setting a hand to her forehead before giving Tamaki one last look that sent an unsettling chill up his spine. "Why the hell can't I ever get seriously mad at any of you boys; and you especially?!" Her eye brow twitched with a great sense of annoyance while the hint of a flustered blush prickled across her cheeks.

For a moment, Tamaki stared at her with a blank look, jaw dropped slightly as he didn't quite grasp at first the fact that Kyo had yet to unload any sort of harsher than necessary reprimand on him. However, once the statement sunk in by the passing third second of silence, he offered an apologetic smile while shrugging. "Probably for the same reasons none of us can ever get mad at you or Haruhi properly. And it's not because you're both girls, might I add." He laughed lightly while speaking, only to suddenly suck in a sharp breath as Kyo's fist connected with his shoulder in a light but still somewhat painful punch. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Do you know how freaked out I've been?! I thought I was loosing my mind; hearing things that I didn't even see, and this constant paranoid feeling of being followed!" Kyo snapped with a slightly raised tone to her voice.

"Yeah, well, do you know how freaked out I was when I couldn't get a hold of you or Haruhi on your cellphones for nearly three hours?!" Tamaki shot back while rubbing at the now sore spot on his shoulder. "I was calling to ask you guys a question, and neither one of you pick up! You can't blame me after the thirteenth time my call gets forwarded to your voice mail!" A pout was starting to form on his face now.

Kyo held a screwed up look on her face as she was not going to loose this small argument. "Yeah, but I also know you take things to the unnecessary extreme! If I told you, we were going out shopping at Shibuya Station with friends, you would have let your imagination run wild for all but five seconds before calling in Search and Rescue!" She pointed at him with her index finger to further emphasize her point.

Staring at the finger being jabbed at him, Tamaki quickly shook his head. "No I wouldn't!"

"Aiya, _oniisan._" Kyo muttered while the open palm of her hand met the middle of her own forehead. Her eyes flashed wide as her own words replayed back through her head, causing her gaze to snap up and meet the at first surprised look on Tamaki's face that slowly changed to a cheeky grin. "Uh, that was totally by accident, I swear."

Tamaki practically beamed. "You called me your oniisan!" He teased while sliding up directly beside her and poking at her shoulder. "You consider me as a brother, don't you? Come on, Kyo, say it again! Call me your oniisan!"

Quickly smacking his hand away with a haphazard scowl that she was barely able to force out against a flustered blush, Kyo turned her head away as if to make a point of some kind as she crossed her arms. "In your dreams!" A faint smile appeared in the right corner of her mouth before she finally turned her gaze back on the tall blonde beside her. "So, aside from Kyoya, are the others here too then?"

"Uhhh..." Tamaki trailed off while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah. Pretty much."

Another exhaled sigh, a momentary hanging of the head was displayed before Kyo just finally gestured for Tamaki to follow her back to the toy store.


	34. Paralyzer: Them vs You vs Me!

_**Chapter Thirty-four**_

_**Paralyzer: Them Vs. You Vs. Me!**_

The mall food court buzzed with the occupancy of a good hundred or so hungry shoppers with now large apatites that only fried food could cure after having spent hours trawling about with large and small bags filled with various items. It was an absolutely fantastic sight for the jaded eyes of a few rather overly privileged boys who had yet to taste the world outside of what they knew within the confines of sprawling private school campuses, million dollar mansions, summer homes outside the country, and every luxury items money could buy.

While Kyoya seemed less interested with his nose buried within the pages of a book he had found rather amusing in one of the small stores he was forced to "hide out in" when the five would-be spies/stalkers had freaked out at the probability to the fact that they may have been spotted. In fact, their cover had nearly been blown back in the electronics store when Hikaru had become rather riled up over the scene in which the unknown older boy in the group that Haruhi and Kyo were traveling with, sprung upon Kyo with an overly affection gesture (that in Hikaru's point of view was considered only acceptable if it had been Hunny hanging off Kyo's neck).

The second time they nearly had their cover blown was during the venture into the clothes store. Kyo had taken the same older boy towards the back in search of a specific item of clothing, but the teasing argument that happened to spring up between the two was not only frowned upon by Kaoru this time around, but the younger twin seemed just barely able to restrain himself from pouncing upon the unknown boy.

Kyoya had taken note of both incidents and even now was currently musing over the meaning behind the reaction of the twins as he read through his book. It wasn't anything new when it came to the rather possessive nature the two brothers displayed when it came to both Kyo and Haruhi. Haruhi had come along and out of nowhere somehow connected with the two boys, and even possessed the ability to tell either apart even as one pretended to be the other. That was the first time anyone else had not only attempted to, but stepped fully into their secluded world. Then came Kyo; the out of place heir apparent to a huge family fortune that ranked right up alongside that of the Suoh and Ohtori, stumbled (literally) into the realm of the Host Club and immediately stepped up to the challenge of putting the two rambunctious devils in their place.

A faint smile tugged at Kyoya's mouth as he reasoned quietly that somewhere out there, _karma_was giggling like mad after having apparently cut two girls from near identical molds with their own personality quirks and strengths; before dumping them into their lives at such random moments. He had to admit, at least to himself, that both were incredibly attractive in their own way. Although, Kyo did manage to aggravate him quite frequently with her insistent challenging of his position in the Host Club. _Stubborn woman._ He lifted an eyebrow at his sudden thought towards the dark-haired girl he had been roped into following at the crying pleas of a certain blonde he shared a school grade with.

_Well, I suppose calling her a girl would be a bit odd in some sense. Even though she has the maturity-level of a twelve-year-old at times._ Smirking quietly, Kyoya returned to his reading.

"Ah! Takashi, look! It's Tama-chan!" Hunny nearly beamed as he caught sight of Tamaki making his way towards them. However, as if the taller blonde's return was some sort of precursor to something else approaching, a sudden chill ran up Hunny's spine and caused him to involuntarily shiver.

"Oi, dono!" Hikaru called out to Tamaki in his usual lazy like manner. "What took you so long?"

It was as if the temperature about that one particular table in the food court had dropped almost ten degrees below freezing. Both Hikaru and Kaoru went completely rigid for a moment as they sensed the drastic change, and exchanged jerked looks with one another before snapping their attention forward on Tamaki who looked very much on the side of sheepish sulking.

Pointing at him dramatically with accusing glares, the twins shouted in unison. "TRAITOR!!"

"Oh really?" A voice curled behind them with what sounded like a strain to contain whatever mounting annoyance had come to a peak boiling point. Before either one of the ginger-haired boys could turn, a hand came down atop their heads with an open palm and immediately began twisting back and forth in some odd sort of noogie. "And just what the hell makes you exempt from being called anything?!" Kyo growled.

While the two brothers whined and fidgeted under Kyo's unforgiving ruffling of their hair, Haruhi appeared beside the still rather sheepish looking Tamaki who was now staring at the tiled floor and kicking the toe of his expensive right sneaker back and forth over it in a scuffing manner. Haruhi was just as fully annoyed with the actions the boys had taken, and unfortunately it hadn't really surprised her when Kyo reported the presence of Ohtori employed private police.

Luckily enough, Ami and her siblings had yet to be acquainted with the other half of the Host Club to feel anything other than slight confusion to their presence in the mall and Kyo's less than joyful response to them being there (that and Kyo left out the fact that there had been a private police force tracking them down since god only knew when). They were of course quite puzzled as they watched Kyo rub the raw out of twin brothers who she seemed rather familiar with, while Haruhi held one hell of an ice queen glare down on others.

Almost immediately, or as soon as his big honey-brown eyed gaze hit her, Hunny was jumping out of his chair with a massive grin on his face. "Ami-chan!!"A giggle bubbled through his words as he leapt forward at her; arms wrapping about her small waist in a giant hug. "It's so good to see you!!"

A rather awkward grin twisted out across her mouth as she stumbled back a short step and glanced down at the beaming diminutive blonde who had attached himself to her in what seemed like the blink of an eye. "Hunny-senpai; nice to see you again too."

Momiji lifted a rather questioning brow as he felt rather uneasy with some unknown boy clinging to his younger sister, but his attention diverted immediately towards Kyo as her rising tone prickled within his hearing. She was obviously upset to some degree with the fact that these guys were here, but Momiji felt a jolting alert strike through his person as he watched the twin ginger-headed brothers somehow wriggle their way out from under Kyo's hands and simultaneously hook their arms about her neck and pull her down between them.

"It's hard to ever actually find yourself angry at those two for long." Kyoya mused while closing his book and propping an elbow up on the table in order to set his chin within his palm. A somewhat of an amused smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he switched his gaze between Kyo and the twins to Haruhi and the siblings she had been hanging out with for most of the day alongside Kyo. "And if I'm not mistaken, I would dare venture to say that it has become incredibly difficult for Kyo to remain angry at them more so than the rest of us."

Haruhi's lips pursed for a moment as she stared at Kyoya, weighing out the option of saying anything in retort to having had his family's private police tracking them down all day, to batting a chance glance to where the muttered cursing and teasing laughs were slowly starting to gain more of her attention. "And I would dare venture that at some point, preferably on the train ride home, that you ll explain yourselves." Haruhi gestured at every single boy in the Host Club with a wave of her hand.

"Train ride?" Hikaru perked up at the mention of this mode of transportation, his amber eyes lifting with a look of deep curiosity to this prospect of returning home in the same way that Haruhi and Kyo had come to Shibuya Station by. "Are we really taking the train back home, Kyo-chan?"

Doing a double-take, Kyo stared dumbfounded at the ginger-haired boy who was still holding his arms about her neck like his brother. "_Kyo-chan?_" She blinked a few times while trying to recall whether or not he had called her that before. None came to mind, and thusly Kyo found herself only further confused now as to why the sudden change of name addressing/calling.

Hikaru gave her a cheeky grin in response. "That is your name, isn't it, Kyo-chan?" He drew her name out in a sing-song sort of voice as if attempting to swoon her, a brow lifting in teasing gesture as he could already see the flustered look coming across her face. "Neh, Kaoru; I do believe our _toy_ is becoming rather tongue tied." Hikaru winked over at his brother as if suggesting something via twin telepathy.

"That does indeed seem to be the case Hikaru." Kaoru exhaled a mock sigh while shaking his head as if he were disappointed with Kyo's confusion. "I suppose we'll have to give her a proper speech lesson when we return home; perhaps in the study, between the three of us. Alone." A coy smirk turned up the corners of his mouth as he leaned in closer to her ear.

It was one thing to be outright teased by the brothers at the same time, but it was another to have them tag-team her so effortlessly as they were now. An involuntary shiver ran up Kyo's spine in response to the tickle of Kaoru's breath hitting her skin at such a close range. Bitting her bottom lip fiercely, Kyo shot Kaoru the best glare she could muster in such an awkward position, without allowing the rising burn of a blush that was working overtime to incriminate her.

From his place beside his sisters, Momiji grit his teeth and even balled his fists to keep himself from reacting angrily towards the rather blatant displays of affection that were normally reserved for couples. _Just who the hell do these punks think they are?!_

Hana's hand quickly found its way to her brother's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze as if to reign him back down from whatever explosive powder-keg that he was getting himself dangerously close to teetering upon. From the corner of her eye, Hana could see the throbbing vein on Momiji's temple, and she knew exactly why. _I always knew he had a thing for Kyo-chan, but I just wasn't sure how deep it ran._ She would have said something to her brother, but instead she opted to merely flicker out a look that he knew rather well. Nodding subtly, Hana glanced down at her wristwatch and then to the group surrounding her in the food court.

"Hey, I don't know about the rest of you gentlemen; but the rest of us need to be heading back to Shibuya Station if we wanna make it home tonight." Hana pointed out while gesturing towards the mall exit with the simple nod of her head.

An audible groan slipped out from Kyo's direction, but it was drowned out by the cheer of the twins and Hunny.

* * *

The misery of crossing over to Shibuya Station had been one that could quite possibly trump anything written long ago concerning tragic fictional characters and their terrible trials... or at least that was how Uchiwa Kyo viewed it as she bore two clinging ginger-haired boys swinging off her arms like rhesus monkeys. While Ami found it absolutely adorable that Hikaru and Kaoru clung to her in such a near possessive manner, Momiji was anything but thrilled as he did his best to keep from outright glaring death upon the brothers.

During the purchase of train tickets for the ride back, Kyo would have opted to have an ice pick stabbed into the side of her skull rather than answer the thousands of questions being rained down upon herself, Haruhi, and Hana. It took Kyoya's infamous persuasion to redirect the group towards the platforms before they missed the final boarding call all together; and for once, Kyo thanked what ever heaven sent _kami_ from above for the fact that she was within the company of the infamous "Shadow King".

"Oi! Kyo-chan, where are we supposed to sit exactly?" Hikaru's brow furrowed deeply as he looked up and down the train car at the seats that were already occupied by other passengers. The concept of not seeing a readied seat for himself when he entered any sort of transportation vehicle was a bit perplexing and Hikaru was now starting to feel slightly like a small child with his mother as he stared and looped his arm with Kyo's.

"Wherever there's an empty seat." Kyo lifted a brow at Hikaru's mannerisms at the moment, wondering why the year younger boy was looking a bit confused about his surroundings. "I know this can't be your first time riding a train _Hitachiin-kun_." She purposely drug out his name, lifting the octave level of her voice to something akin to that which mimicked a few of the girls who considered themselves her personal fans as Uchiwa Kyo the '_host_'. This earned her a rather quick glare from the eldest twin.

"No; it's not, Kyo-chan." Hikaru returned with a heavily sugared smile that was faker than a spray on tan.

Kyo reciprocated with her own horribly forced grin; a strangled chuckle guttering out from behind her clenched teeth. With a swift jerk of the arm that Hikaru was still clinging to, Kyo slapped a hand down on his shoulder in a cold grasp and pushed him forward off to her left where there were still two open seats. "Go sit over there ,you sweet sweet boy." She hissed through the same horridly plastered smile.

Stumbling forward a few steps Hikaru snapped his head back over his shoulder to shoot the blue-eyed girl a death glare, however, that look never fully hit its potency as the ginger-haired boy caught sight of the brunette staring him down not more than five feet from behind Kyo. Immediately straightening himself and turning of the corners of his mouth up into an all out smirk, Hikaru sauntered on over to the remaining seats while ignoring the awed looks from the other female passengers who were near drooling over him and the others.

Kaoru snickered just a little behind the cover of his hand, but immediately swallowed it down as he caught sight of the unamused glare bearing down at him from the girl he stood beside. Coughing to clear his throat, Kaoru rubbed at the back of his neck and gestured after his brother. "Shall we?"

Something akin to a grunt and or a growl emitted from Kyo's throat in a sharp ripple as she stalked off after Hiakru. Unlike Hikaru, Kyo noticed the somewhat double-takes she was receiving from a handful of both male and female passengers as they weren't quite sure if this was a dark-haired boy or girl they were staring after. She groaned inwardly at this. _I can't get a break anywhere._

With only one seat remaining, Kyo merely waved Kaoru to take the open seat as she reached up a hand to grab a hold of the hand-ring just a foot overhead. Both brothers did seem rather pleased with the fact that they were getting the chance to ride on a "commoner's train" and that they had caught the last two seats on the train car. Further down from the trio, the other greater half of the now larger group had found seats for everyone; albeit they were a little spread out from one another, but they were all sitting. As the train sounded its high pitched last-call, there was a smooth easy jerk as it started off down the tracks on another run around down the line.

The day hadn't exactly taken a toll on her, but even still, Kyo exhaled a sigh while allowing her eyes to briefly close and head to drop a bit towards her chest. She had just planned on going over to Haruhi's apartment and practice a few cookie recipes for the holidays as she wanted to bake a few treats for her younger cousins and even Ami's family. Running into so many familiar faces right outside of the super market had not been expected at all. Going shopping in Shibuya was completely off the radar, and it had taken some convincing to get Haruhi to go along with it even though Kyo herself was a bit surprised too at the sudden whim. Being stalked and tracked down by the Host Club because of their insatiable need to be a constant spot in their lives was anything but amusing; especially for Kyo who had become quickly paranoid in the mall. So thusly there was an apparent reason for the teen to find herself somewhat exhausted.

"You look tired." Kaoru commented aloud while lifting a brow at the girl nearly standing right in front of him, noting the earlier act of her exhale as she closed herself off from the world for a moment. He really couldn't see why she would be tired; after all, she had been out hanging with friends he didn't even knew she had outside of the Host Club.

Something was muttered back in response, and unfortunately for Kaoru (and Hikaru as he was now staring up at Kyo as well) Kyo used English. Rubbing the middle of her forehead with her free hand, Kyo glanced over at the two brothers with a crawling scowl. "Oh really?"

Both boys nodded their heads in unison.

"Fantastic. Thank you for pointing that out to me, I would have never been aware of that." Kyo grumbled while looking off out the window on the other side of the train car. The annoyance of the better half of the day had finally mounted to a boiling point for her, and the dull throbbing of a newborn headache was starting to gnaw at the forefront of her skull. Right now, she really didn't feel like getting into any sort of teasing bouts with the twins.

Hikaru frowned in response to the rather curt reply that Kyo had snapped off at them before turning away. _Well that was down right rude. _He wrinkled his nose while sitting back in his less than comfortable seat, arms crossing over his chest as he narrowed his gaze on Kyo. Hikaru had already decided he was going to punish her later.

Glancing over at his brother, Kaoru would have lifted a brow at how cross he seemed, had it not been for the fact that he caught sight of something that didn't sit well with him at all. In fact, he was catching sight of that same something from a few various places all around, and that brought a frown to his lips immediately. Kaoru paid no attention to the curious looks coming from other girls that darted over the blue-eyed teen; those he was used to and saw no threat in at all.

It was still somewhat hard to discern at first glance whether or not Kyo was a girl or boy as she was dressed in unisex attire – khaki colored cords, a dark jean jacket that was tailor-cut and not entirely fitted, a dark red scarf looped about the neck like a tie, and a beanie cap on her head; that he understood perfectly well. However, that didn't stop a few of the male passengers, older and or younger, to spare her a few look overs.

Immediately his jaw clenched and his posture stiffened as he caught sight of the guy named Uzuki Momiji casting a longing glance towards the rather oblivious Uchiwa Kyo who continued to stare out the window. Kaoru didn't like that look, and he especially didn't like the fact that it was set squarely on the girl he had now found complete interest in.

A quick prod with the elbow into his brother's side, Kaoru gestured with the tilt of his head towards Momiji's direction in order to clue Hikaru in on a rather devious plot that would work rather wonderfully in the favor for two reasons – one; they would one up Kyo in their still ever ongoing prank war, and two; they would get a rather wonderful rise out of the other boy they had only met today.

Without a word spoken between one another, the twins exchanged grins before reaching out and ensnaring Kyo by the waist with their arms. Catching her off-guard as they had planned, the brothers dragged her down to their level and planted her securely between them in what seemed a little awkward seeing as how she was forced to sit on half of either boy's lap.

In the process of the whole thing, Kyo gave a short yelp of surprise before plopping down and finding herself within the all-consuming grasp of the Hitachiin twins. Startled, embarrassed, and just completely surprised by what had happened, Kyo quickly looked between the two boys who had made it a point to smile at her as completely innocent as choir boys who had no idea what she could be so horribly flustered over.

"This isn't funny!" Kyo hissed while trying not to make any more of a scene than what had already transpired. Her face was starting to flush beneath the stares she was receiving from other passengers as well as suddenly having either ginger-haired brother resting his chin upon her shoulder as they leaned in on her. "Stop that right now; people are staring!" A hoarse whisper was all Kyo could manage as she started to fidget.

"But Kyo-chan, you've been standing all day and walking about, and you did say you were rather tired." Hikaru murmured, while making sure that he spoke directly towards her ear and grinned when he felt a shiver run up her spine.

"You so willingly gave up the chance to have a seat, so we figured the only generous thing we could do was to offer our laps as a seat for you. Are we not comfortable enough for you?" Kaoru grinned while playing with the fringe of Kyo's scarf.

Within seconds Kyo turned a deeper shade of red as the rather public displays of what would normally be considered affection, but rather noted as out-right teasing when came to these specific three, was far to much for her to combat at the moment. This wasn't the comfort of the Third Music Room, the campus grounds of Ouran, or the private spaces of some other establishment; this was out in public with no room for her to recover and open fire on them without gaining further stares than she already was.

However! There was also something else that she absolutely refused to acknowledge as another reason to her horribly reddened face – she was actually rather comfortable sitting there, and she even found a small liking to the fact that (and even though she knew they were just being their usual devious selves) the boys were being so overly friendly with her.

_SHUT THE HELL UP!! There is no way in hell you are actually enjoying this! They're only teasing you again, probably looking to one up you, that's all this is. Although... no! Nu-huh! Don't even admit it, because once you do, it's all over for you. Do not, and I repeat, do not even give in if it's the last thing you do. _Kyo would have rubbed the back of her neck at this point out of sheer self-embarrassment to the fact that she was finding herself in the midst of enjoying... well, this.

"Oh come on Kyo-senpai!" Hikaru sighed while tapping his temple against hers beneath the wool beanie. "Just accept the fact that you can't escape and enjoy the rest of the train ride. You don't see Kaoru or me complaining about you sitting on our laps." He snickered while lifting a teasing brow as he caught a out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye glare from her in response. "You know what, I think you may actually be secretly enjoying this."

At this, Kyo twisted the best she could to shoot Hikaru with a rather triangular glare. "I am not! This is absolutely embarrassing for me!"

"Aw, you're embarrassed?" Kaoru pouted, tone of voice near that of child-like whine.

While Kyo retorted with her own theorized comeback as to why she believed this to be embarrassing, Kaoru glanced off towards Momiji's place on the train and was satisfied to see a rather dark scowl etched out across his face as he seemed more than likely pissed with the actions being taken upon Kyo at their hands.

Turning his attention back just in time to catch the last bit of Kyo's stuttered explanation to grin as cheeky as possible, Kaoru made it a point to lean in as close as possible to her ear, even though he could feel the heat rising through his own face and the fluttered feeling mulling about in his stomach. While it was just teasing and making fun of their friend as usual, Kaoru was finding it very difficult to keep it from becoming actual flirting. "Well too bad; you're stuck here with us!" He chirped while tightening his hold on her waist so as to pull her back against himself and Hikaru a bit more.

Defeat was the only outcome at this point for Kyo's end of the argument, and with a heavy sigh, the Second Year gave in and attempted to at least try and let herself relax the best she could.

The train ride would last for an hour, perhaps a little more than that given the stops along the way where passengers boarded and exited constantly, and Kyo had found that twenty minutes into this at first glance train ride from hell, that she was becoming horribly comfortable in the arms of the two boys who had made it their personal mission from day two to torture her. The growing warmth from so many bodies within the train car, combined with her winter clothing and the body warmth of Hikaru and Kaoru, was bringing about a lull of slow creeping sleep.

First signs to this was the fact that her stiff posture had relaxed to the point in which she was actually leaning back against the boys. Two minutes later, Kyo's blue-eyes were closed and her breathing evenly paced as she succumbed to the last call that sleep tugged at her lids, her head tilting just a bit towards Kaoru. Sensing the small movement, Kaoru turned his head a bit to see why Kyo had seemed to shift herself. A faint smile pulled across his mouth as he noted the fact that she had fallen asleep.

Glancing over at his brother the best he could, Kaoru found that Hikaru had fallen asleep as well with his temple resting against Kyo's shoulder. Hikaru had drifted off more than likely a few minutes before Kyo had, and now Kaoru was feeling a bit sleepy as well. Without even really giving a second thought to his own actions, Kaoru followed suit after his brother and snuggled his head up against Kyo's and closed his eyes. He figured that once they reached their stop, one of their friends would wake them, and thus he found no doubt in falling asleep on the train with his twin brother and the girl he had all but become deeply smitten with.


	35. Minutes to Midnight!

**Author Note: **First and foremost --- Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Valentine's Day!! (throws colored tiny bits of paper into the air an nearly goes blind from stray pieces getting in her eyes)

Alrighty then! Now that that's out of the way, my apologies on how long it has taken me to finally update this story XP

I started a new job the week right before Thanksgiving at a video game specialty store, and once Black Friday hit and the Christmas following [which I had to work by the way, I was absolutely unable to actually sit down and think straight!! I hated not updating, and it drove me insane especially once writer's block reared its ugly head and my muse ran away! I mean seriously, that's a freaking double-whammy right there that's just not fair :(

Anyways, I've finally gotten around to updating this story as a lightning-strike has proven far more effective than that stupid mythical "help you by inspiration" creature-thingy ever did! HA! Take that muse!!

So now, without further ado (insert drum roll here) ---- The Next Chapter In HEY, JULIET!

* * *

_**Chapter Thirty-Five**_

_**Minutes To Midnight!**_

The flute-like notes of the doorbell sang out within the small apartment, but sounded somewhat muffled from outside the front door. From somewhere inside the apartment, a jovial call was returned with the soft thump of skipped footsteps accompanying shortly after. The slid of the door chain could be heard along with the sharp click of the deadbolt, and with nothing but enthusiastic flourish, Fujioka "Ranka" Ryoji appeared within the open doorway to the apartment he and his daughter lived within.

"Okaerinasai, Kyo-chan!!" Ryoji practically beamed with a kilowatt smile before scooping the dark-haired girl up in his arms as if she were a beloved doll and twirled about several times with her tucked within a near suffocating embrace. The four seconds it took for Ryoji to welcome Kyo, Kyo felt as though she were about to black out from the overwhelming heat that radiated from the thick wool sweater duster that Ryoji was clad within.

Setting Kyo back down on earth promptly after greeting her "properly", Ryoji held her out before him at arm's length and took in the rather different sense of attire she sported from the past few times the Uchiwa girl had come to visit. An A-line fluted slate colored skirt with a white cashmere top beneath a pale lilac colored jacket, accompanied by dark grey leggings and black flat sole boots; she looked entirely different from the Ouran school uniform and casual clothing. In fact, as Ryoji nodded his approval, he noted that Kyo looked near down-right cute even with the short hair (which she happened to pin back some of the long bangs from her face with the use of a pair of bobby-pins that matched her jacket).

"Kyo-chan you look, dare I say, very cute." Ryoji chuckled while resisting the urge to ruffle her hair and or spin her about again.

Whether it was from having been paid such a nice comment, or from the unusual greeting she received from Haruhi's father, Kyo's face burned a rather visible shade of rose as she tried her best to not appear so embarrassed. "T-Thank you, Ryoji-san." Kyo winced slightly as she found the tip of her nose the target of a teasing flick.

"How many times must I tell you, that you may call me Ranka-san?" Ryoji exhaled an overly acted perplexed sigh while striking a mock stance of disappointment in the doorway. "Honestly, all those smarts and yet the smallest detail escapes your grasp." He grinned and winked at her in jest.

Kyo blinked rapidly for a moment as she attempted to process everything said to her, and not fully understanding the mixed jumble of a reaction that batted about her stomach as though it were a thousand paper cranes given animated life. "I-I... sorry, Ranka-san." She muttered while casting her gaze off to the side and down for a moment in order to hid the deepening shade that crept out across her face.

Chuckling, Ryoji shook his head while stepping aside and then promptly whisked Kyo indoors as the chill air was beginning to nip at his nose far too much now. "Now then, Kyo-chan would you like some tea? It should be just about done, and I know that you and Haruhi don't have to be leaving for another hour or so." Ryoji lead the way into the kitchen through the very short entry of the apartment after closing the door. Glancing back over his shoulder, he smiled to himself as he watched Kyo quickly remove her jacket and boots before following after him. _Such a well mannered girl. I really do adore her so._

"Uh, yes please, and thank you." Kyo returned while following after him into the kitchen. "Um, Ry– Ranka-san, why _'okaerinasai'_, if you don't mind me asking." Her brow pulled up in a slight arch as curiosity to the rather familial greeting used upon her.

Ryoji chuckled again as he busied himself with retrieving several tea cups from the top cupboard above the stove where upon which the tea kettle was heating upon. "Kyo-chan, Kyo-chan." He tutted while shaking his head, again. "I merely welcomed you home, you silly girl. Our home is your home." Another bright and warm smile bounced back over Ryoji's shoulder at the somewhat struck Kyo who stared with a rather wide-eyed gaze. "Now, would you be a dear and go let Haruhi know that the tea is done?"

Without a second thought, Kyo nodded and padded out of the kitchen and disappeared elsewhere within the apartment as she headed for Haruhi's room. However, Kyo barely made it into the very short hall of the apartment before nearly colliding with her friend face first in what could have been a very painful act of contact between them. Thankfully enough, Kyo happened to be the one with the far quicker reflexes, and back stepped expertly to avoid the bump.

"Oh! Kyo!" Haruhi blinked while setting a hand over the front of her waist and taking a breath. "Sorry, I didn't expect you to come around the corner."

"Ditto." Kyo snickered while turning sideways. "Your dad wanted me to pass on the knowledge to the fact that the tea is ready."

Haruhi stared at her friend with a lifted brow, a bit taken back by the rather strange use of words that Kyo had just utilized. "I'm sorry, what?" Ducking out of the way as Kyo went to swat her up the left temple, Haruhi smirked slightly as she slipped around her friend in a rather expert-like manner. "So much for the whole _'trained ninja'_ thing those guys keep going on about."

Kyo stuck her tongue out at the back of Haruhi's head as she followed her back into the sitting room where Ryoji was already pouring the tea. "They exaggerate too much." She muttered while sitting down on the opposite side of the table from Haruhi, which placed her on Ryoji's immediate left.

"Who exaggerates now?" Ryoji inquired, curious as to what conversation had taken place in his absence. Both girls shook their heads and waved his question off as the details were far too vast and too much for them to delve into at the moment. "Oh come on, I wanna know what you two are talking about! It sounds like fun!" He whined while shooting his daughter the puppy-dog pout first before flipping it on Kyo, who appeared to be at a bit of a loss as to how she should react properly to the facial gesture.

"Dad, leave her alone." Haruhi exhaled a sigh before blowing on her tea twice and taking a small sip. "It doesn't concern the boys from the Host Club if that's what you're thinking."

Ryoji's brows lifted. "I wasn't thinking that." He replied quickly in defense. "If I had, I wouldn't have asked _'who'_"

Haruhi shook her head, the two crossing pink bobby pins in her hair keeping the bangs tacked off to the side quite well. Before taking another sip from her tea, Haruhi directed a flat look towards Kyo over the rim of her cup as she noted the somewhat perplexed look on her friend's face as she stared down into her tea that was steaming before her. "It's up to you if you wanna tell him, Kyo. I'm not stopping you."

Kyo seemed a bit lost in her own little world of thought, blue eyes staring into the green tinted hot water before her and watching the single tiny tea stalk bob up and down at the center of the cup. _Why does this feel like deja vu all over again? I know this supposed to mean I'm going to be having good luck today, but I can't help but feel a bit uneasy... _

"Kyo-chan?" Ryoji poked the teen in the upper part of her shoulder with a perfectly manicured nail that he had gotten done a few days ago for work. "You still in there dear?"

Her head snapped up and to the left where Ryoji, a bit startled by the sudden movement, stared at her with wide questioning eyes already outlined perfectly with black eyeliner. Obviously Kyo had overlooked the fact that he was about halfway dressed for work himself. "Oh, uh, sorry! I guess I spaced out there for a minute, didn't I?" She chuckled sheepishly while rubbing at the back of her head as she received a nod from both father and daughter. "Ah, yes, well..._'they'_ would refer to a group of guys from my old Junior High that seem to find challenging me to martial arts matches as their sole-purpose in life apparently. They tried to ambush me at Ouran and earlier this month when I went grocery shopping with Haruhi."

"Kyo!" Haruhi almost spit the tea from her mouth at how bluntly she had put it. While not one to judge in that manner, seeing as how she was pretty blunt herself (and was often told this many a time), Haruhi was a bit taken back by Kyo's lack of tact that she general displayed when trying to carefully step around things she didn't want getting out into the open.

"What?" The innocence in her question, the mirrored look on her face --- it reminded Haruhi far too much of Hunny that it nearly made her do a double-take just to be sure it was in fact Uchiwa Kyo sitting beside her father.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! So let me get this straight; Kyo-chan is being stalked by some random punks from her old Junior High that want to fight her?" Ryoji looked between his daughter and the blue-eyed girl beside him with a rather disbelieving look on his face.

Haruhi and Kyo exchanged looks and then nodded in unison as a response to the question.

"And they've physically fought you," At this Ryoji pointed at Kyo and received yet another nod, to which Ryoji frowned at. "They ambushed you on the street, in broad daylight when you were shopping with Haruhi?" Another nod. "Did they survive?" A rather serious and near stoic look held firmly to his face as he asked; which in turn nearly had Haruhi face-planting into the table before her.

For a brief moment, Kyo stared at Ryoji with a look that seemed to be a mix of amusement and surprise at the question imposed upon her. However, rather than chuckling and giving any sort of smartass reply, Kyo shifted her gaze to Haruhi as her right brow pulled up in a high arch. "Didn't Ami-chan smack them around with her purse that last time?"

Before a response could be made on Haruhi's part, Ryoji snorted loudly before laughing aloud into the back of his hand. "Kyo-chan, you're too cute sometimes!" Shifting in his seat, Ryoji propped an elbow up on the table top and rested his chin within the cup of his palm. A delicate brow lifted up in an amused gesture. "And this purse wielding Ami-chan would be...?"

"A friend of mine who I used to attend public Junior High with before I was transferred over to Ouran." Kyo smiled at the recollection of her petite friend wailing away on Gokudo with remarkable skill. "She's got a quick temper and an even quicker purse strike."

Ryoji chuckled again while shifting his attention over towards Haruhi with a bare smirk. "Well, Haruhi, I'd say you've definitely found yourself collecting an amazing assortment of friends since entering your first year at Ouran."

Exhaling a sigh that was more on the side of content and even a bit defeated, Haruhi smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so."

While the two girls finished off their tea, Ryoji caught sight of the clock hanging up above the TV in its permanent place on the wall. "Oh, you two should be heading out soon." He sighed while pushing himself up to his feet, and began collecting the tea things as Haruhi excused herself to grab a few things from her bedroom before heading out with Kyo. "Oi, Kyo-chan, could you help me in the kitchen real quick." Ryoji called back over his shoulder and caught a momentarily curious look from the blue-eyed girl before she followed after him obediently.

Once in the kitchen, the two set to work rising the tea cups and pot out. The soft clink of the dishes being passed beneath running water was the only sound in the kitchen for a moment before Ryoji finally spoke up first.

"Neh, Kyo-chan; you'll watch over Haruhi at the party, right?" He handed over a wet tea cup that had been throughly rinsed.

"Of course." Kyo took the tea cup and set it in the drainboard.

"And if any of those boys, particularly that tall blonde, start to pester her; you'll take care of them, right?" Another tea cup was handed over.

"Yup." The tea cup was set aside in the drainboard alongside the other one that proceeded it.

"Good. Thank you,Kyo-chan."

"No problem, Ranka-san."

Haruhi lifted a brow as she entered the kitchen with a jean jacket pulled on atop the long sleeved shirt she wore with a long hemmed sleeveless sweater vest over. "Dad, what are you doing?" She had caught the tail-end of the conversation as she entered, and couldn't help but wonder if her father had just put Kyo up to something without her knowledge.

Glancing back over his shoulder with a sweet smile, Ryoji winked at her. "Washing dishes with our sweet Kyo-chan of course!" He cooed while reaching a hand out and pinching Kyo on the cheek as he spoke.

Kyo laughed in a sheepish/embarrassed manner as it had been quite awhile since anyone had pinched her cheek like that... in fact the last time it had happened... she was seven... and it had been great-grandmother who had pinched her cheek and then placed a big wet kiss on the opposite one, leaving behind the most god awful shade of ruby red lipstick trace behind. Kyo inwardly cringed at that conjured memory.

"Right." Haruhi rolled her eyes and then motioned for Kyo to escape while she could. "Well, we're leaving now then."

"Of course, of course!" Ryoji chirped while waltzing over to the door ahead of his daughter and her friend. "You two stay bundled up until you're inside again, and try not to stay out horribly late even though it's not a school night!" He grinned broadly before opening the door for the two girls once they had their shoes on and Kyo had pulled her jacket back on. Haruhi stepped out first and started down the staircase, but the quick hand of Ryoji held Kyo back. Offering a smile at the questioning look he was receiving from Haruhi, Ryoji nodded at her. "She'll be down in a sec."

Looking between her father and Kyo, Haruhi shrugged her shoulders and continued on down the stairs. "Holler if you need help getting away Kyo!"

Ryoji stuck his tongue out after his daughter's disappearing back before returning his attention back to Kyo. "I almost forgot to give you this!" He announced while producing a small box wrapped up in shinny red paper and tied off with a piece of green ribbon. "Merry Christmas Kyo-chan."

A bit awestruck, Kyo to the offered gift and stared at it dumbly for a moment before blinking in a stupid manner as she looked back up into the smiling face of Fujioka Ryoji. "T-Thank you, Ranka-san." She smiled, a bit of a blush creeping up over her face. "May I open it now?"

Shaking his head, low ponytail swaying back and forth across his shoulders as he did; Ryoji tapped the end of Kyo's nose playfully. "Open it on the way to your party. Okay?"

Nodding immediately, Kyo glanced down at the small gift again and couldn't help but feel the now rising happiness that bubbled up from receiving the gift in the first place. Without a second thought, Kyo threw her arms about his neck and hugged him with a big smile claiming the space of her lips. "Thank you so much!"

Chuckling,Ryoji returned the hug and then pushed Kyo off him and spun her about to face the stairs. "Get going now. I don't want Haruhi tromping back up here to rescue you."

Laughing, Kyo nodded as she started off down the stairs, but not before waving back over her shoulder at Ryoji with the new smile plastered across her face for possibly the rest of the day.


	36. AUTHOR NOTE!

**!! AUTHOR NOTE !!**

Yeah, I am more than well aware that this is going to get me a LOT of angry messages and comments in the reviews, but it needs to go up and all of you readers need to be informed rather than left in the dark wondering what's going to happen with this story. While I know the greater majority of you who have been with this story since the first chapter will be upset by the following, please bear with me. As of this moment I will no longer be continuing with HEY, JULIET! _as it is._ **HOWEVER! **I am taking on responsibility to officially retcon my own storyline and OC characters that I have created over the passed near three years since this story was first published. That's right, the entirety of what is HEY, JULIET! is not being thrown into the garbage and leaving you readers in the absolute dark as to what was going on and what could have gone on with the rest of the storyline. As it stands – and I am being perfectly honest with all of you because you deserve that – I have completely forgotten where it was in the blue hell I was going with the direction and progression of the storyline and the development of the character Uchiwa Kyo. I was hit with such a massive writer's block that I just ended up simply ignoring HEY, JULIET! thinking that if I focused on my other stories than I could discover where I was going and remind myself of what I had yet to wrap up and answer as far as the massive plot-holes I let litter this story.

Alas, it was not to be as what I thought would work did in fact absolutely blow up in my face. I am so sorry guys, I never meant to just abandon this and leave you all high and dry scratching your heads and wondering if you ever gonna see an update any time soon. But as a writer, I demanded a higher degree of story telling out of myself, and after re-reading what I have written thus far with HEY, JULIET! I feel as though I nearly failed and allowed my characters to slip off into Mary-Sueville (which by the way if effing hard as shit to not let happen since everyone who reads fanfiction practically condemns OC characters indefinitely no matter how hard you try to please them). So, as stated earlier, I am retconing HEY, JULIET indefinitely and will be publishing the rewrite within the next couple of days with first chapter of DEAR JULIET, I LOVE YOU!

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to leave them in a review or even shoot me a message. I will try to answer them the best that I can, and I will be including them on a small Q&A piece I will be putting up in my profile for anyone else curious to the ending of HEY, JULIET! Thank you, all of you; everyone who added this story as a Favorite, Story Alert, and even added me as a Favorite Author and Author Alert!! You're all awesome, and because of that DEAR JULIET, I LOVE YOU! will be up as soon as possible!!

Love & Peace!

- Sarazz Prime


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